Masterminds
by Leolu
Summary: Two geniuses are living their "normal" lives of inventing until, one day, they are forced to live in each other's lives. With this new "body swap," how much chaos can Tails cause on Eggman's everyday life through his body? How will Eggman benefit from his new position of trust?
1. Switched

Hellu… This'll probably turn out to be a pretty "unoriginal" plot, but stick with me! I was inspired to write this after watching a certain episode of Sonic Boom, but this is in the original, post-adventure universe.

Sega owns Sonic and all that, sadly. If I owned Sonic, Sonic '06 wouldn't be rushed.

ESTsoft owns the .EGG file format, but I'm changing what it is in this world. It is really a "compressed archives file format that supports unicode and intelligent compression algorithms," but I'm using it as a sequence of instructions for the production and construction of metallic and electrical systems. Egg just seemed to fit Eggman the best.

I own Blueprint EggWare and Prower Mechanical Design Software (PMDS), but I don't care who uses it.

Before we start: x-x-x is a POV change and x is just a break with the same POV.

Anyways, enjoy (hopefully)!

Note: FFN kept deleting "switch . egg", so I had to change it up.

Second Note: I've posted the special thanks, so now it's time for me to go through and clean up some grammar! Also, I'm changing some continuity: in this story, Tails is fourteen instead of eight, so make sure to imagine his voice lower than normal!

* * *

Chapter 1

 _SWITCH (9).EGG has been saved_

I laughed tiredly and shifted my egg-shaped body in my rolling chair.

I exported the file to my builder robots' server to begin construction and closed Blueprint EggWare. I could finally sleep. _Finally. Finally… Finally, what now? I can… Sleep! Sleep…_ My evil genius was too much for one brain to handle without sufficient sleep. I began to slip from coherence. I barely reached my bed before succumbing to the sweet release of sleep.

x-x-x

 _Tornado Engine 9.3 (6).OBJ has been saved_

I yawned tiredly and wrapped my tails around myself.

I exported the file to my drive and closed Prower Mechanical Design Software (PMDS). It was time to get to sleep. After exiting my workshop and saying goodnight to my big brother, Sonic, I took two milligrams of melatonin and endured the hellish process of falling asleep while wide awake.

x-x-x

I awoke the next morning, prepared to execute my evil plan! As expected, my latest creation's construction was complete. It was not a weapon or robot as one would expect from me. I would use my creation to switch consciences with Knuckles the Echidna. He would be absolutely powerless, unable to approach any of his friends, while I would be granted full access to the ultimate power of the Master Emerald! It was absolutely genius! Hoo ho ho ho!

I inspected the machine that I had conceived. It was flawless. I only had to lay in my bed, allow the machine to scan my brain, and let the machine do the rest. I did my part, and it did its part. I think.

x-x-x

I awoke the next morning, prepared to install a new engine. I was going to do so until my brother caught me by my left tail.

"Oh, no - not today," he scolded. "You've spent all day in there for three days in a row. You're gonna have some fun now whether you like it or not!"

I hummed, taking interest in whatever my best friend had in mind. He released my tail.

"We're gonna pay Knux a visit!" I hummed again.

"Sure!" I couldn't argue that a break from the workshop was a bad idea, so I accepted.

x

As we ascended the emerald's alter's stairway, I began to hear several pitches at once. Several of them were high and varied, but I could distinguish one low pitch.

Knuckles was fast asleep on the emerald's altar, second step from the top. I passed by him and eyed the Master Emerald curiously. I had determined that it was the source of the vibrations. In order to confirm this, I pressed my ear to the massive emerald, hugging it lightly.

I was deep in thought, inspecting the Master Emerald, when Knuckles grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled at the top of his lungs.

" _ **WHAT'RE YOU DOING!**_ "

I jumped out of my skin and onto the Master Emerald. Although my scream was loud enough to be heard from off the island, my foot had collided with Knuckles's face at some point.

"HA HA HA HA! Nice shot, buddy!" Sonic commented. My heart was pounding. Knuckles grumbled something under his breath and got up. I began to laugh a little before being tackled by the red blur. We were both laughing throughout the tumble until I blacked out quite suddenly.

x-x-x

The transfer took almost a minute; nearly two petabytes of data was being transferred at (an incredible) two hundred seventy-five gigabits per second. I didn't feel this, of course, because it was as if I were dead for that minute. Once the transfer was complete, I left my eyes closed for several more minutes in order to adjust to my new brain.

This process took far less time than I had expected; it seemed that Knuckles's brain was less different from mine than I had anticipated. If Knuckles was really any smarter than I thought he was, I was afraid he might be able to figure out how to use my machinery… I waved this notion off as impossible. After all, only a mechanical genius like myself could do such a thing!

I opened my eyes to find my most hated enemy staring down at me worriedly. I tried my hardest not to wear a disgusted face.

"You okay, there?" I wanted to glare, but refrained. Instead, I sat up.

"Y-yeah…" I answered.

"Okay… He went to fetch some ice for you. Where'd you hit your head?" His voice reeked with the sour sound of relief. I fancied hopelessness and despair over relief.

"Uh… The back," I lied. My voice was a bit high, but I presumed that I was still adjusting to the body. Just then, I noticed something. There were various high pitched vibrations and one very low pitched. I assumed that this was also a result of adjustment.

Just then, I heard a tough, rather deep voice calling "I'm back!" I then saw a red echidna approaching me with a bag of ice.

I was forced to contain the outburst that normally would have followed.

x-x-x

I woke up in a strange, dark room on an excessively soft bed. My aching head was in a loose, metallic harness, which I slid out of. My body felt very heavy; I had to use quite a bit of force to move at all. I made my way to the edge of the bed and leaped off, twirling my tails rapidly…

A medical robot arrived quickly to attend to my broken nose. On the way to the floor, I noticed two things: my voice was very different when I screamed and I was wearing clothes (very uncomfortable ones, too). As soon as the robot was finished, I waddled to what my dulled senses determined to be a bathroom. Finding a very large mirror, I found the most hated and feared image imaginable.

* * *

Well Tails and Eggman have switched. Like it? Please review and tell me what you think!

(If you don't like the short sections with the pov changes, please say so!)


	2. Getting Used To It

Special thanks to guest for my first review (I'm glad you like it!) and to Notyouraverageloser-chan for letting me know how to make it better! I didn't realize that my line breaks were deleted when I uploaded to FFN... Probably should've checked! Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

By the way, I have absolutely no plans and I'll be making stuff up as I go along...

Enjoy!

* * *

My Switcher™ had misfired! The stupid machine was supposed to send me into that buffoon Knuckles's body (I did not acknowledge who designed the flawed device, of course)! I couldn't dwell on that forever, though; I had better things to do. Just then, I felt something cold being held to the back of my head; I jumped out of my thoughts.

"Gee, _someone's_ jumpy today! It's just an ice pack," my intended target commented.

"So it is…" I returned to my thoughts and let Knuckles tend to my 'injury,' despite me having 'better things to do.' I finally wondered whose body and - more importantly - brain I had transferred my mind to. Although I was still dazed, a basic recovery from the transfer took almost no time. I was rather concerned because that meant they had the potential to be very intelligent, like myself. None of Sonic's friends immediately crossed my mind as intelligent, though (in my dazed state, at least).

As soon as the echidna removed his oversized mitts from my head, I looked down. I saw white and orange fur and two fluffy tails. I was then seeing red.

"How's that feel, Tails?"

 _Tails. Tails? TAILS! OUT OF SONIC'S SIXTY-SEVEN AND A HALF FRIENDS, WHY,_ _ **WHY**_ _ **HI**_ _ **M? WHY**_ _THE_ _ **ONLY**_ _ONE OUT OF THAT FLOCK OF FLEA-RIDDEN FREAKS WHO COULD CONCEIVABLY DESTROY THIS PLAN?_ I was barely trembling on the outside, despite my rage inside. _I have dreams about Sonic, BUT I HAVE_ _ **NIGHTMARES**_ _ABOUT_ _ **TAILS**_ _! AND NOW THAT HE HAS ACCESS TO MY RESOURCES… I'm dead… I… Unlike Sonic, Tails has no reason to keep… to keep me… alive… I'm d-_

"Yo! Tails! What's wrong?" I was once again snatched from my thoughts. Sonic's worried face was level with mine and his hand was on my shoulder. He shook me slightly as he spoke.

 _Heheh... I almost forgot! Sonic will keep me safe! There's nothing Tails can do that I can't!_

"I… I need rest," I lied. "I'm just dizzy…"

"No, you look like you need to see a doctor or something…" He turned around and knelt down. "Hop on!"

"No - I'm fine - I just-"

"Get on."

He was worried. In my current state of mind, I didn't have the will to argue. I did as he said clumsily (because it was my first big motion in this body). I wrapped my arms, legs, and… tails… around him and he sped off.

x-x-x

 _How? How does he do it_ , I contemplated. _How does he move so swiftly in this body? In such poor shape?_

The answer never came to me. I decided that I would exercise every day, but I had things to do before that. I was hungry, so I began to search for a refrigerator. Eventually, I came across a large area that resembled a lounge. There was a large television that covered the entire wall that it was mounted on (and it occured to me that Eggman had probably threatened many cable companies for his channels). Several service robots entered and exited the room. I approached one.

"Excuse me, where is the kitchen?" The robot stared confusedly. It eventually replied, apparently running a poorly designed AI program.

"Would you like… Ham, eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, toast, biscuits, and/or hashbrowns?" I sighed, but answered anyway.

"Um… Eggs and sausage, please."

"Word 'please' not recognized. Please repeat."

"Uh… You just said 'please,'" I pointed out.

"Command not recognized." I sighed once again and revised my order.

"Eggs and sausage… Half serving…" It was painful not to say please - I had been raised to do so. The next thing I would do is reprogram the robots to _require_ me to say please.

"To maintain a healthy egg shape, you must eat full servings. Are you sure you would like a half serving?"

"Yes." Without response, the robot turned to leave, but I waddled after it. It led me directly to the kitchen, as I expected, and began using its specialized limbs to prepare my breakfast. As it was doing so, it retrieved a stick of butter. In consideration of "my" health, I took the butter away as it made the motion to cut it. Apart from that, I let it make my food in peace.

I decided to entertain myself by searching the contents of Eggman's refrigerator. Before I could do so, however, a voice recording began to play, apparently reading aloud the note that was attached to it.

 _"It has occurred to me that you probably can't read, so I leave this voice recording... Ahem..._

 _Dear Knuckles,_

 _I knew you would find the refrigerator sooner or later, so I leave this message here! Below you will find instructions on how to maintain this glorious, egg-shaped image. If you do not follow these instructions and allow my body to lose its glory, there_ will _be consequences. In return, I shall leave your body as it was before. Now, then:_

 _From the service robots, order one full serving of "the usual" every meal (6AM, Noon, and 6PM), even if you are not hungry._

 _Order 1½ servings if you're especially hungry._

 _Order "extra fat" while your weight is below 136.4kg._

 _Do not order 1½ servings while your weight is above 142kg._

 _Exercise 5-10 minutes every day with exercise machine set to "default" to maintain health._

 _Use a quarter-sized amount of conditioner on each side of the mustache and comb it thoroughly every morning._

 _In the refrigerator, there are some syringes and doses of insulin. Every night, inject one dose of insulin into the spot marked with an 'X' on my belly. Make sure there are NO BUBBLES or you could die._

 _When I am back, we will return to our own bodies. I will assess how well you have followed these instructions. Again, if my image is not adequately maintained, there will be consequences. Also, there is no use attempting to escape my base; it is reinforced with the strongest alloy and can only be opened via password - and it would take a genius to hack it! HO HO HO HO HO!_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Dr. Eggman_

 _You can bring this recorder with you and press the play button: the one with a triangle on it (a triangle is the shape with three sides). Actually, I'll draw a picture of what the play button looks like on the bottom of the paper. I've left recorded instructions around the base on how to operate the treadmill and scale. Good luck!"_

I was laughing my lungs out! I could only imagine Knuckles's reaction to this! After I calmed down, I put the recorder in one of Eggman's oversized coat pockets.

"I'm no rule-breaker, but…" I let out a hearty laugh, imitating Eggman perfectly. "Time to break some rules!"

* * *

So! How'd you like it? If you did, please leave a review - I don't care if it's just one word, I just need to know! If there's something I need to improve on, please let me know; this is all about you guys, so just tell me how to make it more to your liking and I'll certainly do it!

Until next chapter!


	3. Mischief

Well, here's another chapter!

* * *

The speed was nauseating. I was fighting to keep my breakfast down. The forest passed by as a green and brown blur. I couldn't take much more.

"Stop… Stop…" Sonic barely heard me and decelerated to a halt. I had thrown up a bit, but contained it. It tasted like… rabbit? I swallowed, wanting not to worry Sonic even more.

"What is it?"

"I don't need… I don't need a doctor… I just need to rest at home…" I once again began to recover from the nausea. It had only been a few minutes, but this body had become a harsh experience several times over.

"I just need to go home," I repeated.

"A-are you sure? You were sha-"

"I'm sure!" Sonic seemed surprised by the interruption.

"Alright, then," he answered. "If you can follow me home and keep up, I'll believe you. If you fall behind, I'm taking you to a doctor"

Sonic set off at a slow pace (for him, at least). I was surprised to find myself keeping up easily. He sped up, and I was even more surprised that I could still keep up! When he sped up again, however, I found myself struggling. It was then that I remembered something… Whenever I caught sight of Tails running with Sonic, he would spin his tails as if he were flying… The least I could do was try. I tried spinning my tails. To my delight, they began to twirl around and over each other rapidly!

 _Muscle memory! Yes!_

It was as if a large weight was lifted from my legs - I inadvertently passed Sonic! I was doing something that I had never imagined possible: I was outrunning Sonic the hedgehog! It didn't last long, of course. He soon passed me, but I didn't want it to end. I spun my tails and pushed my legs even harder. I passed the hedgehog once more.

After a few moments, Sonic began to run directly in front of me.

"Wanna break the sound barrier?" His voice came out loud and high pitched. The Doppler Effect.

"Yeah!" Sonic would hear my answer quieter and lower pitched. Also the Doppler Effect.

"Alright, let's go!" I spun my tails even faster and pumped my legs even harder. For the first few seconds, Sonic was moving away from me - I wasn't fast enough! I almost wanted to stop, but something inside of me refused. Deep down, I wanted to break the sound barrier, even if it were only to match Sonic in his own namesake speed - even if only to spite him. I pushed myself harder. Harder. My legs began to hurt. Harder. My tails felt as if they'd been set on fire. I set my mind on autopilot and focused my entire being into going faster. At that point, I didn't imagine that pushing myself any harder was possible. I was in a trance. It blurred out all the pain and reality - all I knew to do was run. Nothing else existed - just run.

There was a sharp pain on my… my snout? I didn't use my snout for running! I broke from my speed-trance and opened my eyes (which probably shouldn't have been closed in the first place). A large, blue quill was pressing into my snout. Then came the sweet feeling of victory - I had broken the sound barrier. I could decelerate.

x-x-x

Hacking Eggman's lock system was no problem at all - it was over in ten minutes. I was free to leave. I didn't leave, however. Instead, I tried exercising.

I spent an hour in Eggman's 'gym.' There was a treadmill and… that was it. I exercised for an hour, but couldn't go any faster than ten kilometers... Prower... As I jogged, I let my mind wander. There were so many things I wanted to build using Eggman's resources; there were so many things that I could do to help people now… I saved these thoughts for later.

Immediately after finishing my exercising, I began reprogramming the service robots. I used one of Eggman's computers to open the service robot coding. There was a tab labeled "Commands," which I clicked. I was expecting hundreds of lines of code, but it was quite simple:

 _listvar input == getInput(input1);_

 _listvar exe == getRecognizedExe(input);_

 _if (ElementList(input) =/= 0){{_

 _execute exe;_

 _}_

 _else_

 _execute notRecognized(a).mp3;_

 _}_

I let out a snicker that would have sounded rather cute in my body. In Eggman's voice, however, all that was produced was a terrible, ungodly sound. I shivered and created a new sound file. I opened a music making/sound file editing software: EggWare Sound. I had never used it before, of course, but I caught on quickly. I turned on the recorder.

"What's the magic word," I asked teasingly.

In a matter of minutes, I had turned the recording into a robotic voice. I played it.

"What's the magic word," asked a robotic voice in a teasing tone.

"Perfect!" And perfect it was. I repeated the process with the word "please." I saved the files and returned to the code. I added "please" to the list of recognized words and inserted several lines below the first two. The new code brought a smile to my face:

 _listvar input == getInput(input1);_

 _listvar exe == getRecognizedExe(input);_

 _if (ElementList(input) =/= please){{_

 _execute whatsthemagicword(0).mp3;_

 _}_

 _else_

 _if (ElementList(input) =/= 0){{_

 _execute exe;_

 _}_

 _else_

 _execute notRecognized(a).mp3;_

 _}_

 _}_

 _Oh, boy!_ I could only imagine what Eggman's reaction would be when we switched back! I had never heard Eggman sincerely say please before. I tried to snicker again, but got the same sickening result. I sighed and saved the code.

x-x-x

My aching muscles came to a halt at what I presumed to be Sonic's house. With both hands, I reached back to where my tails met my bottom. It was sore to the touch, but a bit of rubbing fixed that. Sonic entered the house, and I followed.

"You still got those left over chili dogs?" Sonic gave me a hungry look. "I'm starvin'!"

 _Do **I**_? _How am **I**_ _supposed to know? Is this not Sonic's house?_ I dismissed the thought. Sonic knew what was going on, so I went with whatever he said.

"Let me check," I responded, checking the refrigerator. Sure enough, there were two chili dogs wrapped in clear wrap sitting in the fridge.

"I sure do," I called to Sonic. I microwaved them for a minute and delivered them to my enemy. I suppressed a groan of disgust - I never imagined that I'd be serving chili dogs to Sonic.

"Thanks, bro!" Sonic gestured for me to take the other one. "After you're done, you need to get some rest, like you said… Hmm… Your house has been pretty messy lately, huh?"

 _So this is **Tails's**_ _house! But… how can a... How old is he? Whatever, I just know he's too young to be a homeowner..._

"Eh, yeah… I've been really busy lately…"

"Yeah, I can tell…"

* * *

So! Comments, thoughts, criticisms? Please do say anything you need in a review - they're very appreciated!

On to chapter 4!


	4. First Encounter

Here's chapter 4

* * *

To say that Tails's room was very neat would be an understatement - everything was nice and orderly. Several painted model biplanes lined the shelves of one wall, and there was a small television mounted on the wall across from the light blue bed.

The bed was neatly made before I jumped into it. It was soft, but not nearly as I was used to. Despite that, it was oddly comfortable. I removed the new-looking shoes, socks, and gloves and climbed under the covers. Only minutes passed before I decided to be productive. I climbed out of bed, not bothering to make it up, and began to wander around the house.

Tails's room had a bathroom of its own and a closet. The upper floor was a hallway that led to Tails's room and two guest bedrooms connected by a bathroom. The stairs led into the living room. On one side of the living room was the kitchen. On the other was a metal door, which intrigued me. Sonic had left, so there was nothing stopping me from entering.

I pushed open the heavy metal door to find something that I had not seen in a very long time. I found a workshop. There were engine parts strewn across a workdesk in one corner, a large computer in another, and a magnificent, blue and orange biplane in the middle. The sight brought back memories of my childhood…

My father had no interest in science and engineering, but he didn't try to stop me from persuing my dream. I would often visit my grandfather, Gerald, and he would allow me to use his workshop. Those were the happiest days off my life… Then he went up to Space Colony Arc. I never felt half as happy since. Seeing Tails's workshop, though, brought feelings that were long overdue. For the first time in a long time, I felt a tear tickle my cheek, then another. Several more followed. I only stood there for a moment, though. I dried my face and worked to my heart's content.

x-x-x

Eggman did not have a workshop. I probably should have guessed that, but I was still disappointed. The next thing I was to do, of course, was to make a workshop. This wasn't hard at all. There was a small spare room under his base. The only problem was that I had no workdesks. I would have to go out and buy some.

 _No problem_ , I thought. _I just have to take the eggmobile, some money, and… I've no idea where either of those are…_

I checked Eggman's main computer. There, I found everything that I may need. There were several files. I clicked one labeled 'finances.' I was surprised to find that Eggman owned multiple casinos, several steel factories, and an oil field.

 _Oil Ocean Zone… Casino Night Zone… Oh, boy… Should've guessed that he owned those…_

I could not find any way to withdraw any money. Eggman did not have a credit card or anything, so I knew he had to have cash _somewhere_. That place, I assumed, was the bedroom. I ran to find it. Under his bed was a large safe. Using a large hammer that I found on a builder robot, I busted open the safe. I took double of what I thought I'd need, found the Eggmobile in the hangar, and began to fly it.

x

I stopped at a hardware store - my favorite, in fact. I parked in front of the store and entered. I was met with immediate silence. Everyone looked on fearfully as I browsed the store's fine selection of glossed mahogany workdesks. It wasn't long before my best friend showed up.

"Hey, Sonic!" I immediately choked on my words.

"Eggman… What're you doing here?" Sonic used a stern tone that he hadn't had to use on me in years. I was a little unnerved by it. _How did Eggman ever get used to this…_

"Oh, I was just buying a workdesk or two… Problem?" I tried my hardest to sound like Eggman. Sonic gave me a nasty look.

"Tails… Tails?" He spoke into the communicator that I gave to him for his birthday.

"Oh, uh… Yeah?" I heard my voice through the device.

"You up for some action?"

"Uh, yeah! Where are you?"

"Doesn't matter. I need you to keep an eye on the city from above. I have a feeling he's distracting me from whatever he's planning elsewhere."

"Okay…"

 _My plane… He… He better not touch my plane… That's my child!_

Sure enough, I heard the familiar - beautiful - sound of my v15 radial engine starting. Needless to say, I was infuriated! I contained myself and calmly payed for the workdesk I had chosen. I had the servicemen tether it to the Eggmobile.

"Wouldn't you normally just steal something if you needed it," Sonic asked.

"Perhaps," I answered, "but I have plenty of money, so why not spend it?" He glared suspiciously.

"You're weird, Egghead. Keep it up." He watched as I flew off.

Before I returned to the base, I spotted a small, orange fox flying my precious biplane. Seeing my own body from an outside perspective felt surreal. I approached him anyway.

"NEVER TOUCH MY BABY AGAIN!"

"I don't intend to!"

"Fly by tail next time! Tell Sonic you're repairing her or something if he asks!"

"Her?"

"THE PLANE!"

"Fine!"

With that, I returned to the base. That wasn't how I had expected our first encounter to go, but it was satisfactory. Eggman would never touch my plane again. Except… I promised Cream that I'd fly her around tomorrow for her birthday. I used one of Eggman's computers to send an email.

 _To: Tails . Prower (a) pmail . com_

 _Subject: Tornado 3_

 _Message: I know I said not to fly my plane, but I promised Cream that I'd fly her around for a while. She'll be there pretty early in the morning, so make sure you're awake by five. In my workshop, in the top drawer below the engine in the far corner, there is an earpiece. Set the earpiece's frequency to 140 GHz. I'll be supervising and giving you instructions the entire time. If you don't follow my instructions, I **will**_ _exercise._

 _Tails_

I sent the email. Sooner than I expected, I got a reply.

 _To: Mustachioman (a) email . com_

 _Subject: h_

 _Message: yeah, yeah, i set it. ill fly your girlfriend around tomorrow_

I _really_ wanted to reply, but I refrained. Instead, I busied myself with installing the workdesk into my new workshop.

* * *

FFN just gets rid of any sort of email/web address or anything like that, so I spaced out the email addresses here. Also, it refuses to put the at symbol, so I made do, as you can see...

Reviews are always appreciated!


	5. Torture

camrynboylan: thank you for the support! I do plan to continue this for quite a while!

In this episode: Tails subjects Eggman to mental torture!

* * *

As Tails had instructed, I woke up at five the next morning. I immediately turned on the earpiece that was next to the bed and tried to fit it in my ear… A fox's ears were very different than a human's, but I eventually succeeded.

"There you are, Egghead!"

"Yeah, here I am." Considering the circumstances, I couldn't afford to be rude. "Taking care of my base?"

"I sure am! And what about my house?"

"I've been playing around in the workshop a bit," I admitted.

"That's fair. I've been using some of your resources, as well," he said. "Go ahead and start up the plane. I think it'd be better if we pick her up at her house."

"Oh, how sweet," I commented as I exited Tails's room and made my way to his workshop.

"Quiet."

The Tornado 3's controls were very different than the Eggmobile's. I was studying the control board when I heard a small, familiar buzzing sound. A spybot.

"Let's see you figure this out, genius."

"I'd rather not try that again."

"Fine, flip the red switch on the right." I did. "Alright, now the first three from the top left. Wait until you see the second light start flashing. Open the garage door before you die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Good. Now push the handle forward slow- SLOWLY! Okay… Now that you're on the runway, accelerate and pull up on the yoke. Good job. Your flying. I assume you know how to steer."

"Yeah, where's your girlfriend's house?"

"Shut up," he growled. He gave me the direction and distance to Cream's house and I followed them. I saw what I assumed to be Cream's house in the distance.

"Land about a hundred meters from her house. We're gonna wait until she's ready - no rushing."

"How considerate."

"You're on the verge of losing five kilograms ."

"Oh, alright!"

x

There was only one conversation during the thirty minute wait:

"What if I gave your tails a trim?"

"You'll need that to fly."

"Alright, what about your bangs?"

"Sonic would put you in a mental hospital."

"Ah…"

"What if I cut your mustache?"

"… You wouldn't dare…"

"Let's agree to leave the hair out of our blackmailing."

"Agreed."

x

After those thirty minutes, Tails spoke up.

"Cream has left the house. Drive down the road until you see her."

I did so. Soon enough, I found a cream colored rabbit. She was carrying a blue chao.

"Remember to be polite. Do you know how?"

"No."

"If she ever says my name to get your attention, don't say 'what?', say 'yes?'. Answer any requests with 'sure', 'okay', or 'alright'. And _don't_ look or sound annoyed - I know how easily you get annoyed. Oh, get out of the plane."

I got out of the plane. I was annoyed that I couldn't express my most common emotion.

"Hi, Tails!" Her voice was rather high, but it was soft and smooth enough to not be annoying.

"Say 'hey, Cream' and ask if she's ready to be fly."

"Hey, Cream! You ready to fly?"

"Yes!" The chao cheered along with her.

"Alright." I was going to fly into the cockpit before Tails stopped me.

"Well, help her into the plane!"

 _Can't she do that on her own,_ I thought. I obeyed anyway. I took her hand and flew into the cockpit. I let go when she was inside. I could hear the chao chattering in its incomprehensible language as I started the plane.

"Tell her to buckle up. You buckle up, too."

"Buckle up!" We both put on our seatbelts.

"Say 'here we go!'."

"Here we go!"

"Now fly."

I flew. Once again, the horizon fell out of sight. Cream and her chao cheered and peeked out to the ground. After a moment, Cream spoke up.

"Can we find Mr. Sonic?"

"Say 'sure!'."

"Sure!"

"Put the plane on autopilot - red button - and use your communicator to wake up Sonic. Send a message that Cream wants to see him. Then use your locator to find him."

I did as I was told. I hadn't noticed that the communicator had a locator before. There was a map with a moving orange dot and a stationary blue dot. The blue dot wasn't still for long, however - it suddenly moved across the screen very quickly. I knew that this was Sonic, so I followed it. I soon caught up with the hedgehog.

"Fly low."

I descended slowly. I stopped five yards from the ground and matched Sonic's speed. I really wanted to fire, but that would cost me my life - Tails would _surely_ kill me!

"Mr. Sonic!" Sonic looked behind him. He wore his signature grin and jumped onto the wing of the plane. "Hi, Mr. Sonic!"

"Hey, Cream! Enjoying the ride?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Cool! I'm off, then!"

"Bye, Mr. Sonic!" Sonic waved and jumped from the wing. He broke the sound barrier several seconds after he hit the ground. I pulled up into the air again.

"Tails, can we go to Southern Island?

"'Yeah, lemme find it on the map.'."

"Yeah, lemme find it on the map."

Tails went silent. He must have been measuring how much I had to turn to be facing Southern Island. Sure enough, Tails responded with instructions.

"Turn right sixteen degrees and put down the windshield - blue switch."

I followed Tails's instructions. When I flipped the blue switch, a large windshield closed over both of our heads.

"Tell her you're about to go Mach two, then shift the upper lever to six and the lower lever to five."

"We're about to go Mach two."

"Is that fast," Cream asked.

"Very fast," I answered.

I shifted the plane into 6-5 gear and slid the acceleration handle forward. The world outside began to pass in a blur.

"I think you're getting the hang of being me," Tails commented. "I think I can even leave you alone for a while!"

I lightly shook my head.

"No? Alright, then. I'll keep talking you through everything."

x

I was forced to be mind-numbingly polite for the way there - I was ready to explode by the time we reached Southern Island! When we landed, I was subjected to one more bout of courtesy - _again, can't she do it herself_ \- before I could let out my anger elsewhere. Unfortunately, the rabbit and her chao were following me.

"If you want to be alone for a bit, point out the flower patch to your right."

I did so immediately.

"Oh, wow! That's so pretty," Cream exclaimed.

"Tell her to stay there until you return."

"Stay there until I return, okay?"

"Okay, Tails!"

I wandered off. In my free time, I kicked a few trees. There wasn't much that I could do to get rid of my anger, so I returned within ten minutes. Cream, of course, was still playing around in the patch of flowers. Small, yellow flowers adorned the rabbit's head.

"You're already back, Tails?"

"Yup," I answered. Cream hummed and returned to what she was doing.

"Play with her for a bit," Tails ordered. I shook my head. "C'mon… It's all about her today - you know it's her birthday, right?"

I shot a surprised look at the spybot.

"I guess I should've told you that before… You'll also be attending her birthday party - along with everyone else. Now get to playing!"

As quickly as I had calmed down, my frustration had built up again! In order to maintaining my facade, however, I crouched down beside Cream and began to play with the flowers. They were beautiful, yellow, and petit. I hated natural beauty! By some stroke of luck, though, Cream grew bored of the activity!

"Are we going to get back on the plane soon?" I really wanted to respond with an eager "yes," but Tails had a different reply.

"If she wants."

"If you want," I answered reluctantly.

"I think I'm ready to go now." For the first time in the entire trip, I was delighted by something someone said! Ending my suffering? I would love to! I didn't mind that I had to - once again - help her into the plane; I was absolutely _giddy_ that the trip was coming to a close!

After all, attending a little girl's seventh birthday party was all I had left to do today. It couldn't be _that_ bad, could it?

* * *

Every single review is appreciated! Thank you all for the support - I'll be sure to update constantly!


	6. Birthday Party

In this episode: more mental torture for Eggman :)

* * *

Only once during the return trip did Cream say something.

"Can you do a barrel roll?" Tails told me to say yes. After I answered Cream, he instructed me on how to do a barrel roll. Upon doing what he said, the plane began to rotate sideways. I would've lost my lunch in my own body, but Tails's body was very used to these maneuvers. Cream, of course, was laughing by the time I finished spinning. Soon enough, we arrived at Cream's house. Once more, with a painful reminder from Tails, I helped Cream out of the plane.

"Thank you for the ride," Cream said as she hugged me.

"Well, hug her back and say 'no problem'!" I once again did as Tails instructed.

"Bye, Tails!"

"Bye, Cream!"

It was over. Cream was safe in her house and I could finally take a break!

"Gee, did your mother teach you _nothing_ about tactfulness?"

"My mother taught me how to conquer a fortified city. What _else_ are mothers supposed to teach their children?"

"I'm not sure - I don't know my mother."

x-x-x

I wouldn't have to guide Eggman for another few hours. He returned to my home and began to relieve his stress in my workshop. I told him when the party was to start before he switched off the earpiece. In the meantime, I searched his database to figure out how he had switched bodies with me. I used keywords like 'swap', 'body', and 'mind'. None brought any useful results. On my fourth attempt, I used 'switch'.

"Bingo! There's something worth investigating!" In this search result was a file named 'SWITCH (9).EGG'. I right clicked the file and clicked 'open with'. A list of compatible softwares appeared. To my delight, there was only one software on the list: Blueprint EggWare. I opened it, and the schematics of a complicated machine appeared on the screen. It was exactly like the broken machine that I found in Eggman's bed the first day. Eggman had the device destroy itself so that it couldn't be used to prematurely end whatever he was planning to do in Knuckles's body. "Too bad for him it was _me_ he put in his body… This is just too easy…"

I edited the file a bit. I first got rid of the self destructive mechanism. I then added two pods for reasons of my own.

There was a row of tabs at the top of the screen: 'file', 'edit', 'view', and 'tools'. If I wanted to construct the machine, my best guess was to click 'file'. I immediately spotted an option labelled 'construct'. I clicked it.

 _Where would you like to export to?_

 _Construction Crew 1 - stand by_

 _Construction Crew 2 - ready_

 _Construction Crew 3 - ready_

I selected the second option. When the file was finished exporting, I heard a loud rumbling noise from somewhere in the base. I followed the sound, knowing that it was the construction of the machine. When I found the construction room, the machine was almost finished! I had to admit - Eggman was efficient.

When the device was finished being built, it was transferred to another room, so I followed it. The room was labeled 'product room'.

"Such a creative name," I muttered. There were several transfer robots in the room. "Take this to the workshop, please."

"Location not recognized."

"Take this to the spare room, please."

"Location not recognized."

"Uh… Take this and follow me, please."

"Yes, sir," the robots chanted in unison. I led the robots to the workshop. Once we were there, I decided on a spot to set the machine.

"Right here."

"What's the magic word?"

"I thought I programmed you not to say that for subsequent commands…"

x-x-x

Tails, of course, had a gift for Cream. It was a small box wrapped in cream colored paper. I retrieved it before leaving for the party. The ride to Cream's house was fifteen minutes. Tails spent the entire time lecturing me on how birthday parties worked. All I really payed attention to was the fact that there'd be food.

"What kind of food?" I was getting pretty hungry.

"Cake. Now listen - wait until everyone's gotten a slice before getting any. If you want seconds, wait until everyone's finished before you get more."

"If everyone did that, no one would get any cake…"

"Well, I just wanna make sure everyone gets cake."

"What if I don't get any cake?"

"Deal with it. It's just cake… It's happened plenty of times."

There were several minutes of silence. There was still one question on my mind, though.

"Why are you the most mature out of all your friends? You're eight - they're double your age!"

"… I just have immature friends…"

x

I arrived at Cream's house. Sonic was the only one there at the moment. Soon enough, though, familiar faces began to show up. There must have been about twenty by the time the party began. The party was pretty simple: a nice, little gathering of everyone I hate. There were two hours of excruciating socializing, a song that Tails had to teach me in ten seconds, cake - which I got some of, thankfully - and presents. I didn't see - nor care - what everyone else got Cream, but I saw what Tails had gotten for her. She tore the cream colored wrapping off to reveal a small, orange box with the letters PT and a twin-tail logo on it. Inside the box, there was a cream colored communicator that looked just like the one Sonic and I wore.

I quoted Tails as he spoke into my ear: "You said that you wanted to come on more adventures with us, so I made you this communicator. Now you can contact any of us anytime you want, and… we'll tell you whenever we're about to do something fun!"

"Thank you, Tails - this is great!"

x

The party ended soon after presents, thankfully. I started up the Tornado 3 and left.

"Now, was that so hard?" Tails was teasing me again, so it was only fair that I traded back.

"Yes… So, you can call your girlfriend now, huh?" Tails only sighed. He ended the communication and I was silent the rest of the way home.

* * *

I thought it'd be fitting to have a rabbit tell a fox to do a barrel roll… Also, PT stands for Prower Technologies. Yes, Tails owns a business here.

Reviews are always appreciated - even if you've already reviewed!


	7. Kidnapping Eggman

Finally! Some action!

* * *

I learned several things about Tails within the first few days of being him: he is very organized, he wakes up at 4:45 every morning, and he has mild insomnia. I would have to take melatonin every night if I wanted a decent amount of sleep. Foxes need eight to nine hours of sleep, so bedtime was normally eight, though I would be fine if I got a little less sleep. I wasn't happy with the strict rules, but they were bearable, at least.

On the fifth morning, I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I knew from experience that that was a bad idea. I disabled the alarm and began my day. I headed straight for the kitchen for breakfast. My only options were oatmeal and bland cereal. _What's wrong with this eight-year-old_ , I thought for the fourth time. I chose the same cereal I had chosen the last four mornings and ate a bowl of it disdainfully. _Fat free milk… Ugh…_

I spent the rest of my morning in the workshop. I was designing a microchip that I could plant on Sonic's legs - they would emit a strong electric signal whenever he ran fast, causing his muscles to contact. Every time he would run, he would fall flat on his face! _Ho ho ho! I'm a genius, aren't I?_

The problem with the plan was that Sonic would notice any chip big enough to emit that much electricity - it would have to be the size of my thumb nail! _How to solve this problem… Ah, yes. The obvious solution: if one is too big, just have a bunch of small ones! Now… What about a power source? I could… leach off of the communicator's power! Except the communicator isn't built to wirelessly transfer charge… Ah, I'll just have to "fix" his communicator! Ho ho ho! Lovely!_

Just then, the hedgehog in question appeared from behind the workshop's metal door. He was not wearing the grin that I always saw plastered to his face. Instead, he looked rather concerned.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" I didn't enjoy giving my enemy sympathy, but I was his 'best friend'.

"Eggman's acting up again. We need to go see what's going on. We need to use the Tornado 3, though. Is it ready?"

"Uh…" I quickly checked the plane's oil and fuel. "Yeah, it is. Should we leave now?"

The hedgehog only nodded. He jumped onto the wing as I jumped into the cockpit. I opened the garage door and started the plane. As we ascended, I saw Sonic slowly shake his head. I knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.

x

Sonic pointed whenever he wanted to change directions. _This must be pretty serious_ , I thought. Soon enough, we were approaching a large, red, beautiful airship. _The Egg-_

"The Egg Carrier," Sonic said, interrupting my thoughts. I was very annoyed.

"Egg Carrier Two," I corrected.

"Doesn't matter - were blowing it up either way!" I grimaced at the suggestion of destroying my most glorious ship.

"How about we take it instead? I'll remodel it and name it the, uh… The Tail Carrier!"

"Uh… Okay… Actually, do what you want; I'm gonna clear the way for you." It seemed that Sonic _really_ wanted me to not have the Egg Carrier 2, one way or the other. "Okay, ready?"

"Ready!" We sped towards my beautiful battleship. Only then did I realize that it was Tails who was piloting the ship. _What in the world could he be doing_ , I asked myself. _I won't find out until I get in there! The problem is… I can barely fly this thing - much less fight with it!_

The cannons were deactivated, of course - Tails wouldn't want to shoot down his own plane! I landed on the carrier's runway with relief.

"That's suspicious." Sonic hopped to the ground.

"Yeah, it is," I lied as I shut down the plane.

"I'm gonna go ahead and clear the way." The hedgehog sped off, but returned seconds later. "There's, uh… nothing to clear…"

"There's an ambush," I stated. _I wish_ _ **I'd**_ _thought of that! They'd be cautious and confused the entire time, and… I could do so much from there! How is Tails a better evil genius than me?_

"Let's go then - no ambush can ever stop us, right?"

"Right." Sonic dashed off and I followed close behind. We took the twists and turns of the Egg Carrier 2's exterior at a nice and slow pace of sixty miles per hour. Once we reached the familiar green platform, we found an entrance to the interior. We landed in a short hallway, and the cockpit was at the end of it - and the door was open! If anywhere, the ambush would be here. I wasn't expecting badniks, of course - whatever Tails was planning couldn't _possibly_ involve hurting us.

"Go get the Tornado started up. I'll be back in a minute." I didn't quite understand.

"Wh… why?"

"Go. If it's a trap, you're the only one who can get help - I haven't flown a plane in years, and our communicators are jammed here. It probably is a trap, but I can trust you to get me out, right?" I nodded. "Good. Get going, now."

I reluctantly did as I was told. I was on the green platform again when I heard a peculiar noise. I ignored it and continued to the plane. When I was halfway there, though, I felt the entire ship buckle. I spun around to see the cockpit detach from the ship and fly away. I somehow knew that Sonic was trapped in it.

 _That fox! I've only caught that hedgehog a few times in my life, and he goes and traps him on his first try! I… I guess that's fair - Tails knows Sonic better than anyone. I ought to get to the plane now. Whatever he's planning can't be any good for me._

x-x-x

I was hoping to catch only Eggman, but was expecting to catch Sonic as well. I waited patiently for the detached cockpit to arrive with my captives. I was at one of Eggman's secret bases deep in the mountains. Finally, the cockpit arrived with my captives. To my disappointment, Eggman wasn't captured at all - only Sonic sat in the cage. I was still happy to see my best friend, though!

"Hey, Sonic!" I barely got the words out before Sonic began bantering.

"Tough luck, Egghead - Tails is out getting help _right_ now!" He went on for a few minutes, and he even began to use words that I had never heard from him. I was a little disappointed, honestly - I had expected the world's hero to be a little cleaner.

"How about I make you some chili dogs? No onions, a little cheese, extra spicy? That'll make you feel better!"

"I… How?"

"How do I know? You told me years ago."

* * *

How's _that_ for a seventh chapter? Let me know with a quick review - it'll be very appreciated!


	8. Kidnapping Eggman For Real

Many thanks to On A Happier Note for the support! I'm so glad you like it, and you have my word that I'll be posting often!

This one's 1.5 times longer than the others - enjoy!

* * *

Sonic ate slowly and deliberately. His oldest, worst enemy had just recited - and prepared - his favorite chili dog order, something only I knew by heart… Not even Amy knew it! As his brother, I felt responsible to clear away all of his confusion.

"I know what you're thinking. I'll show you." I left Sonic's cage and made my way through the labyrinth of hallways and to the storage area.

"Follow me, please," I said to the transfer robots. They were carrying the machine that I had modified and constructed, but they were not responding. They were powered off. I turned each of them on and repeated my request.

"Yes, sir," they chanted in unison. I led them to Sonic's cage, where he was gripping the metal bars.

"Would you trust me enough to get into this machine?" I didn't expect an immediate answer, nor did I get one. A minute later, he answered.

"I dunno… I just don't know…" I didn't like to see my brother in this state. He was confused and conflicted. I didn't expect him to be like this over a chili dog order, but I seemed to have hit a soft spot in his memory. We had enjoyed over - no exaggeration - a thousand chili dogs together. "Did you… overhear it or something? That's gotta be it. Just 'cause you know what I like on my chili dog doesn't mean anything!"

I was glad to see that he wasn't conflicted anymore, but I still needed his trust. "What do I need to do to prove it's me?"

"What's your first name?"

"Miles."

"Favorite flavor?"

"Mint."

"Food?"

"Chili dog with extra cheese."

"Movie?"

"You know I don't typically watch movies." Sonic sighed defeatedly. He was beginning to trust me, but I knew that there was still doubt. He didn't believe it was possible for me to be in Eggman's body. "Eggman used this machine to switch bodies with me."

"Is that… possible?

"Absolutely. I'll get in it first." I got in the pod closer to me.

"Get in the other one," he ordered cautiously.

"Sure…" I got in the other pod. "They're both the same."

Sonic furrowed his eyes in contemplation. I gave a warm smile.

"If I let you out, will you trust me to show you?" After a moment, he nodded. I unlocked his cage with the press of a button, and he slowly approached the other pod. After inspecting it, he entered it and shut the door.

"Switcher, activate." There was a glow, then darkness.

x

The short range of the pods allowed for a very quick recovery. Both Sonic and I were awake in seconds. We exited our pods and turned towards each other. There was a moment of silence.

"Tails?"

"Yeah, bro?"

"Can I have my body back?"

"Not yet. I've got some work to do. In the meantime, do whatever you want."

x-x-x

Angel Island was a short flight from Tails's house. I landed the plane right in front of the Master Emerald's alter and flew up the stairs by tail. I heard high pitch vibrations coming from the Master Emerald, just as I had the first time I was there, except there was no low pitch with it. I pushed the distraction from my mind and faced Knuckles, who was sitting on the next-to-top step. He stood up when he saw me.

"Oh, hey, Tails," He greeted. "Sorry about tackling you… You were out for a whole minute!"

"Oh, it's fine. I actually didn't hit my head or anything until _after_ I passed out - I think it's just cause I didn't drink enough water or something," I lied. _That's something Tails would say, right?_

"Oh, uh… Okay, then… Did you come up here for something?" I suddenly remembered why I was there in the first place.

"Oh, yeah! Sonic was captured, and we need to get him out!"

"Well, why didn't you say so? Let's go!"

x-x-x

Sonic wanted me to fly him to Eggman's main base before I left. I did so quickly, not wanting to waste any time - I had to kidnap Eggman before he did anything crazy! After Sonic was safe in Eggman's base, I dashed off. I was amazed by my speed - I had no trouble at all breaking the sound barrier! I zipped through a forest and a field and reached my house in no time. Eggman was not home. _Sonic said that Eggman went for help… Knuckles, of course!_

I sped from my home to Angel Island. I knew that I couldn't get onto the floating isle, but I could certainly try. Before I did, though, I had a better idea. _The communicator - I can get his location through it!_

I pulled up the locator on Sonic's communicator. I spotted the orange dot that represented my own communicator, and I pursued it.

x-x-x

I had noted the direction in which the cockpit had flown from the Egg Carrier 2, and I was then retracing that direction. It wasn't long before I recognized where we were headed - a secret base of money in the mountains! Knuckles sat in the back seat of the plane.

"Where are we going?" I didn't expect Knuckles to know this.

"One of Eggman's secret bases," I answered. _Not a secret anymore, I guess._

"How do you know where it is?"

"I hacked one of his systems," I lied. Surely Knuckles would fall for it. Sure enough, he did, giving a satisfied hum. I returned my attention to the mountains below. _Passed it._ I turned the plane around and quickly located my base. After landing, I shut down the plane and we dismounted it. My large, password-protected door was in front of us.

"Alright, I'm about to hack into the security system and dismantle the defences!" I entered the password. "We're in!"

Without a word of doubt, Knuckles followed me. I led him through the corridors of the base. We eventually came upon a room with a familiar machine in it. It was my Switcher™, but there were two pods attached to it. Seeing this, I was certain that Tails was using Sonic's body.

"Hey, Knuckles! These are the teleportation pods that Eggman used to escape! Let's go!" Knuckles obediently stepped in the pod nearest to him. _This is too easy… This is way too easy…_ I pressed 'activate when ready' on the control panel and stepped into the other pod. There was a glow, then darkness…

The recovery was surprisingly short. I quickly left my new pod and faced Knuckles's. Inside the pod I saw the body of the little, orange fox that I'd been using for the past five days. I snatched Knuckles off of the ground and held his weak arms behind his back before he knew what was going on. He began to struggle and yell, but I found each of his futile movements to be feckless against the raw strength that I possessed.

I dragged him to my supply area - him protesting loudly the entire way - and found my stash of zip ties. I used two on his wrists, two on his ankles, and two to bind his ankle and wrist bands together - I could carry him as I would a briefcase. His tails, however, were a problem for me. I believed, from personal experience, that Tails's tails could rival even Knuckles in pure muscle power. I had calculated that his tails generate a thrusting force of just over five thousand Newtons - even though his tails were shaped very poorly for creating thrust! I was no aeronautical genius, but I knew for a fact that Tails's tails had to be _insanely_ strong to do something like that! I used over a hundred zip ties on his tails. I wasn't satisfied, though, so I used a hundred more. Finally, not wanting to take any chances, I used the last few hundred zip ties. My five-hundred-pack of industrial zip ties, having a tensile strength of one hundred seventy-five pounds each, were all used up on the two tails of an undersized fox kit. Knuckles had gone quiet at some point during the procedure.

"Uh… You think that's enough zip ties?" I was annoyed by his comment - especially since he was doing so at my limited mercy! I suppressed my urge to kick the helpless animal. The cast of plastic around his tails would take… ( _One hundred seventy-five times five is… five hundreds and five seventy-fives… five seventy-fives is three hundred seventy-five, plus the five hundred is eight hundred seventy five, so…)_ eighty-seven thousand five hundred pounds of force to break. I calculated this with difficulty - Knuckles's brain was no good at math. Numbers aside, he would not be escaping any time soon - I could reveal myself to Knuckles.

"I guess now would be a good time to tell you that I'm not Tails. You've probably already guessed that," I said in my new, bravado voice. Knuckles didn't say anything. "I am, of course, The Great Dr. Eggman. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking the Master Emerald."

"That'll have to wait, Eggman," came the voice that I least wanted to hear.

* * *

Who's ready for the book's first fight? I am!

All reviews, follows, favorites, etc, are appreciated! Always!


	9. Protecting The Master Emerald

This may get confusing in the future, so I'll keep a log for every time it changes.

Mind - body

Sonic - Eggman

Tails - Sonic

Knuckles - Tails

Eggman - Knuckles

Glad you're excited gabage6.2! Here's the next chapter for ya!

* * *

I stood in the doorway with a smirk on my face. My body, inhabited by Knuckles, was on the floor, bound with what must've been _hundreds_ of zip ties. Eggman, in the echidna's body, was knelt over him.

"Sonic!" Eggman shot to his feet. "No… Tails!"

I walked up to him and glanced at Knuckles. I laughed at the excessive constraint on the tails. "You think that's enough zip ties?"

"That's what I said!" Knuckles wriggled in his plastic prison. I returned my attention to Eggman.

"Hm. So, are you gonna fight or surrender?" I really hoped that he'd surrender, but I didn't expect an answer at all. Just as I thought, he punched at me. I dodged and retaliated with a swift kick to the head, knocking him to the floor. He sprang up and lunged at me, but I was already behind him, taking his foot. I spun him around a couple times and slammed him into the wall. I began revving up a spindash when he hit the wall, and charged half a second later. Instead of hitting an echidna, though, I hit the wall. I was dizzy, but it lasted only a second. I looked up. One moment, Eggman's fists were buried in the wall; the next, they were buried in my face. I was knocked back several meters. I scrambled to my feet with an aching face. I saw that Eggman was just fine. _I… I'm good at hand-to-hand combat… in my own body… but I'm not right now… I'm not Sonic… I need my own body… The machine! I'll… no, I can't with Eggman around… Time to cut my losses - I'm outta here!_

I turned, scooped Knuckles up in my arms - _dang, I'm light_ \- and dashed off. I escaped the base within seconds and sprinted through the mountains. I took Knuckles directly to my house, about a minute away. Once there, I retrieved a pair of scissors and cut away at the zip ties. There were about fifty left when Knuckles became impatient and decided to break through them instead. He pushed his tails apart as hard as he could, and they immediately snapped. All of them.

"How many was that?"

"About fifty," I laughed.

"Woah, how many pounds is that?"

"A hundred seventy-five each would make that eight thousand seven hundred fifty pounds." His jaw dropped.

"No way your tails are that strong!" I nodded.

"Yup. They aren't shaped like helicopter blades, so I can't just spin them lightly and expect to create any lift. If I spin them with a few thousand pounds of force, though, it's enough to make up for it and create lift."

"We've _gotta_ arm wrestle when we get back to our own bodies!"

"Sure thing!" I looked at my tails. The fur was pressed and flattened from the zip ties. "Follow me."

I led knuckles to my bathroom and handed him my tailbrush. "Brush them backwards until they fluff out again, then forwards - lightly - to straighten them out. They're flatter than Egghead's love life. There's no dignity in a flat-tailed fox."

"Dang, dude… Okay, then…" I left him to brush in peace. I decided to inspect the house to make sure Eggman had left everything as it was before. A few things in my workshop were rearranged, but that was to be expected. The Tornado 3 was missing, of course. It was still at Eggman's mountain base. I returned to my room and slept in my bed for the first time in five days.

x-x-x

 _Did I just win? I think I just won my first fistfight…_ I laughed. I went over to collect Knuckles from the ground, but he wasn't there. _Of course… Why would Tails leave his body behind? Or his friend…_

I left the room. I had nothing else to do but take the Master Emerald!

x-x-x

I knew that Eggman wanted to take the Master Emerald and that Sonic needed to be retrieved from Eggman's base. Pretty straightforward plan: get the Master Emerald, then Sonic. I wanted to relay this plan to Knuckles, so I went to my bathroom upstairs. I found that one tail was poorly fluffed and he was working on the other one. I took the brush from him. "Let me do it."

He complied, knowing that he was doing poorly. I had both tails fully fluffed in a few minutes. I put a few long stands of fur from the brush into the garbage can and set the brush in its place. "Alright, we're going to get the Master Emerald before Eggman does."

"How? The plane's at Eggman's secret base! We can't get up there unless we can fly!"

"Oh, but you can!"

x

I fitted my latest invention onto each tail. They were thin segmented metal sleeves that compressed and locked into place. "Remember what I said about my tails not being shaped like helicopter blades? Well, now they are!"

I flattened the sleeves. "I thought we just fluffed those!"

"Don't worry - they're designed to refluff them when you take them off." I locked them in place. "The thing is: they aren't tested, so that's what we're gonna do right now!"

"Cool! Let's do it!" I led Knuckles outside.

"Alright - spin your tails!" Knuckles began to trust his tails. He stopped less than a second later because they were fully wound up. "No, don't twist them - spin them separately."

"Oh." He did so and shot up in the air. I could barely see him in the sky, probably half a kilometer high. _If that's the case, he'll be down in seven point fourteen seconds and reach a hundred forty meters per second. Better jump to catch him if I wanna live._ Six seconds later, I jumped and caught him. It was rough impact, but not nearly as bad as it would've been otherwise.

"Let's try softer." He spun his tails _much_ softer than last time. He gently hovered in the air and I took his hands. "Little harder now."

He did so; we began a gentle ascent. "Face them forwards and go a _little_ harder." We began to move forward.

"Good. You know how to fly now. Let's go."

x

Knuckles flew us up to Angel Island. He went a little too hard, though, and dropped me from twenty meters up. He shot twenty more meters up from the sudden loss of weight and we both crashed to the ground.

"Ow," we grumbled in unison. We shook it off and continued to the Master Emerald's alter. Just then, I spotted my favorite orange and blue biplane headed directly towads us.

* * *

We're about to see the second clash in less than an hour's time! All reviews and stuff are appreciated!


	10. Saving Sonic

Over a thousand views! Thanks, everyone!

* * *

I fired at the pair of animals who were blocking my way to the Master Emerald. They anticipated it and dodged it. That's about all I could do with the plane, so I set it to auto-park and bailed, landing in front of the two. _I beat him last time - I'm about to do it again, too!_

"Sorry, Eggman, but we'll be taking the Master Emerald!" I crossed my arms.

"And now you've got me to fight, too!" I noticed a pair of metal sleeves wrapped around Knuckles's tails.

"Nice tail-gloves," I taunted.

"Glad you like 'em - they're for you!" Before I could do or say anything, he dashed at me faster than I'd ever seen the little fox go before. The next thing I saw was the pair of metal sleeves colliding with my face as a wave of pain tore through my head. I was knocked from the altar, so I hid in the foliage for a minute to recover from the blow.

x-x-x

"Nice one, Knux," I complimented, "but that's _your_ body, so be careful!"

"I can live with a few broken bones," he stated. "Let's get the Master Emerald to safety!"

I nodded in agreement and spotted the Tornado 3. I sped to the plane and flew it to the altar. I tossed one end of the tow cable to Knuckles. "Attach this to the Master Emerald. Hurry, though - I don't think he'll stay down for long!"

Knuckles finished hooking up the tow cable to the Master Emerald and hopped into the plane. As we were taking off, something in the plane made a bumping sound. I assumed it was the tow cable adjusting to the weight and continued the ascent.

x

"Hey, Tails,"

"Yeah?"

"How did this whole body switching mess start?" I pursed my lips, recalling the past few days.

"Well… It all started after Eggman built this machine that could switch people's bodies, I guess. It was that day we visited you at Angel Island. After you tackled me - while we were rolling around - was when it happened. He intended to get you, but missed. He knew you weren't good at technology, so he was going to keep you locked in his base while he stole the Master Emerald. I hacked out of the base, though, and established communication with him. We were at a stalemate for five days - until I launched the Egg Carrier 2. I wanted to catch Eggman with it, but caught Sonic instead. I used his body to try and kidnap Eggman, but he'd already switched with you. Sonic is now in Eggman's base. You know the rest." Knuckles hummed in consideration.

"Alright, so what are we doing now?"

"Picking up Sonic."

"Solid plan."

x-x-x

I clung to the wheels of the Tornado 3. I was afraid I had bumped the plane too hard when I grabbed on, but they seemed not to notice. According to Tails, they were going to pick up Sonic at my base. _I suppose I could steal the Master Emerald with the Eggmobile if we land in the hangar, but… they'd definitely notice… That leaves one thing left to do…_ I bided my time until we landed. Luckily, we landed in the hangar - _right_ next to the Eggmobile! Tails and Knuckles left the plane and entered the base.

I landed on the ground and approached the Master Emerald. Without second thoughts, I buried my fists into it once - twice - thrice before it shattered into twelve pieces. I grabbed an armful - about five pieces - before the rest scattered throughout the world. I knew that Knuckles had seen the pieces of the Master Emerald; I heard a string of curses directed at me as I rose into the air and left the base.

x-x-x

"That's my mouth you're using - please don't use it like that…"

"Eggman just shattered the Master Emerald! I don't give a d-"

"Knuckles!" Sonic and I shouted in unison.

"Fine…" He crossed his arms.

"Got any chaos emeralds," I asked Sonic.

"Yeah, two, why?" I smiled.

"Where?"

"At your house, in the safe we always hide them in."

"Cool… Be back in five!"

x

I was back in six.

"You're late," Sonic commented.

"Yeah, whatever. We're about to take any emeralds that Eggman has. If it starts glowing, call me." I tossed the yellow emerald to Knuckles, keeping the green one for myself.

"What am I supposed to do?" I looked at Sonic sympathetically - he hasn't done anything all day!

"I dunno - read a book or something!" I glared at Knuckles.

"Go to the kitchen and get some tin foil." Sonic looked at me questioningly, but did as I said. We each parted ways in search of chaos emeralds and tin foil.

x

Knuckles brought back one chaos emerald and Sonic brought back a roll of tin foil.

"What'd _you_ bring to the party, Tails?" Knuckles was stifling a laugh.

"A plan," I answered bluntly. I wrapped my head in tin foil and passed the roll to Knuckles. I received a look of utter confusion. "If he tries to switch with any of us, the tin foil will block the signal."

Understanding the reasoning, Sonic and Knuckles wrapped their heads with the tin foil.

"Now, about the Master Emerald." The two immediately began to listen. "If we collect even just one piece, Eggman can't have the whole Master Emerald. So that's what we'll do."

"Sounds good to me," Knuckles commented.

"Now, about getting you into a useful body." Sonic payed even more attention. "A year or so ago, I built this mech with high ROM capacity. I gave up coding it and put it in storage, but now I think we have a use for it - we're gonna switch you into it!"

"What about Eggman's body?"

"What about it? It only transfers consciousness, the brain stem will work just fine - his body will still do the stuff that it does on its own, just without a consciousness. We'll hook him up to an IV or something for nourishment." Sonic nodded.

"Wait, we don't have that machine!" I silenced his concern.

"No problem!"

x

I had a new Switcher™ constructed, packaged, and brought to the hangar. We attached it to the tow cable and I started the plane.

"Wait - before we go, you two wanna wreck the place?" Both Knuckles and I looked Sonic's idea, so we trashed Eggman's base - and I took a free things for myself - before leaving.

"That was a wonderful idea, Sonic," I praised.

"I know. Just wait until he gets back!"

* * *

I hope everyone enjoyed! All reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you next chapter!


	11. Chaos Race

Thanks again, gabage6.2! I'm glad you like it!

Mind - Body

Tails - Sonic

Sonic - Eggman

Knuckles - Tails

Eggman - Knuckles

Here's another chapter!

I had five out of twelve pieces of the Master Emerald. Seven left. _Now that I think about it, I probably had time to just take the Master Emerald. Whatever: what's done is done._

I inserted one of the green shards into my chaos tracker. It didn't fit the small box meant for chaos emeralds, but it should've worked anyway; it was made to use anything with chaos energy. I was disappointed to find that the shards had no chaos energy in them. I tossed it back with the others with _disgust._

 _That means that I won't be able to detect any more shards. No matter, I'll just find some chaos emeralds! Is there anything in this Eggmobile with chaos energy? I doubt it… Rings… Rings are infused with chaos energy… Yes!_ I snatched a ring from my storage compartment and shoved it into the slot. The tracker immediately activated. To my delight, there was a signal. It was weak, but I followed it.

x-x-x

"Can you hear me?" I stared into Sonic's robotic eyes. He was hooked up to my computer in case I needed to make any improvements.

"Kinda," he answered with a rough, electronic voice.

"Alright, I'll replace your microphones. They must be pretty old. I need to install your voice files, too." I opened a software of my own design: Prower Vocals. I clicked 'detect'. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"

 _Undertones collected. What would you like to name this file?_

I typed ' _Sonic(0).voi_ '.

 _Would you like to test or export?_

I clicked export.

 _Where would you like to export Sonic(0).voi?_

I clicked ' _robot002_ '.

 _Export complete. Thank you for using Prower Vocals!_

"Alright, say something."

"Something," Sonic said in his familiar voice.

"Good. Say something excitedly."

"Something! _"_ It was good.

"Say something sadly."

"Something…" It was a little rough, but it was close enough.

"Ask something."

"Something?" Perfect. Now, movement.

"Touch your nose with your left hand. Right. Okay, now make a fist with both hands. Alright, move your arms like you're swimming." He flailed his arms. "No - stop! Do this… Okay, good. Roll your head around. Now, stand up."

I unhooked Sonic from the computer as he stood up. "Walk around. Good, start accelerating. Perfect. Dance… Oh, no! No! Stop! Stop dancing! Never dance again! Okay, sit down. Read the letters on the poster."

"E, Z, H, M - wait, why don't you just switch me into my own body?"

"I designed that robot to be just like you, except in looks. Knuckles and I would be useless in that robot. I'm going to switch with Knuckles to get my body back, though, and he'll use yours."

"Whatever…" He continued through the letters perfectly.

"Perfect vision. Now I just need to replace your microphones."

x

After I replaced Sonic's microphones, I switched with Knuckles. After a short transfer, I was finally back in my own body! I hugged my tails and spoke in my own voice.

"It's nice to be back in my own body!" Knuckles huffed.

"Must be. _I'll_ have to wait until we catch Eggman."

"Sorry, Knux. We'll catch him soon."

x

I inserted the three chaos emeralds into the Tornado 3's slots and started it up. The chaos map appeared on the console screen. With three chaos emeralds, it had a radius of one hundred twenty-five kilometers. There was a weak signal. I smiled.

"We've already got a signal! It's probably a piece of the Master Emerald - don't they scatter after being smashed?"

"Yeah, but they don't have any chaos energy," Knuckles answered.

"Oh. It's a chaos emerald, then!"

x

We followed the signal for thirty minutes. Soon enough, we were approaching the site of the signal. Once we reached it, we all noticed a familiar round vehicle parked on the ground. There was also a familiar red echidna caring a familiar blue gem.

"Hey, Sonic," I said.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about testing out your new body?"

"Let's do it!" I opened the windshield and Sonic jumped out. I landed the plane. By the time Knuckles and I make it way to the scene, Sonic was taking some harsh blows.

"Little help, here!" He resorted to dodging and defending Eggman's punches. Knuckles dashed out and delivered a kick to the head. As Sonic, Knuckles, and Eggman were fighting, I ran back to the plane to retrieve my tail sleeves. I heard a loud noise, so I quickly slipped them on and returned to the fight. It was already over, though. Sonic and Knuckles were sitting on the ground, and Knuckles had the chaos emerald in his hand.

"What happened?" Knuckles looked up at me and blinked a few. He rubbed his ears.

"What?"

" _What happened?_ "

"Oh! As soon as I got my hands on the emerald, he used a flashbang. He tried to grab it from me, but I held on. Here." He handed me the blue gem.

"Good job! Let's hurry!" Neither Sonic nor Knuckles moved. "Um… you two coming?"

"Just a minute, bud," Sonic groaned. "That was a nasty flashbang."

I nodded and returned to the plane. Several minutes later, they were in the plane. I started it up. "Alright, are we ready, now?"

"All set," Knuckles answered.

"Cool! Let's find the next chaos emerald!"

x-x-x

 _I can't believe my flashbang trick didn't work!_ _He's got some grip! Too bad for him, though - I've got his tin foil!_ I was headed to my mountain base, where the Switcher™ was located.

"Ho ho ho! I'll be the fastest thing alive in a few minutes!"

x-x-x

"Hey, Knuckles!" There was no reply. "Knuckles?"

I looked back to find Knuckles unconscious. I noticed that his tin foil was missing and knew exactly what was happening. I put my tin foil onto his head before the transfer could go on any longer. It would be postponed until it was removed. I directed the flight towards my home.

x

I locked Sonic's body in one of my experiment chambers and explained the situation to Sonic. He nodded and allowed me to switch him with Eggman's body. I removed the consciousless robot from the pod and put Sonic's body in. I snatched the foil from his head and slammed the door. He immediately woke up.

"Looks like I was just in time." I activated the machine. Satisfied with my work, I plopped onto the couch and immediately fell unconscious.

gabage6.2: I know you liked Sonic being the robot - and I do hate to undo that so early - but I may be able to redo it soon ;)

Tails - Tails?

Sonic - Sonic

Knuckles - Knuckles?

Eggman - Eggman?

None - Mecha

Reviews are appreciated!


	12. Jumping To Conclusions

I've updated the story details and named each chapter. This chapter's also longer than normal. Enjoy!

* * *

I knew the reason behind Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles having tin foil on their heads: they wanted to protect themselves from being switched. After I used the flashbang, I took Knuckles's foil, but Tails later gave him his. With no better option, I switched with Tails. That's what happened, as far as I knew. Just then, my most hated hedgehog burst through the door of Tails's workshop.

"Alright! The transfer's done - everyone's back to their own bodies! I think it's time to bring Knuckles back and celebrate!" I froze. _He thinks that everyone's back to their own bodies? How could that be? I don't care. Sonic believes that, so he's in his own body. Tails is in Knuckles's body and I'm in Tails's. That means Knuckles is either in my body or that robot. Well, Sonic believes that everyone is in their own body, so the robot must be unoccupied - Knuckles is in my body._ "Uh, Tails? You okay?"

I snapped from my thoughts. "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking through the situation - making sure I didn't miss anything."

"Oh, okay… So, did you miss anything?"

"Nope! Everyone's back to their own bodies!"

"Cool! Let's go get Knuckles, now!" I smiled. _I have his trust again. He's under my control, but not for long. Tails will be back soon, so I have to act fast. And I know just what to do!_

x-x-x

I woke up on a hard floor. _Did I pass out? I didn't feel that tired!_ I rubbed my eyes and stood up, but something jerked on my head. I then heard a small explosion directly behind me. It was the switching machine, of course. I pulled my head out of the harness, which was no longer attached to the ruined machine. Eggman had rigged it with explosives so that it would blow up as soon as I stood up. _Smart._ I looked around and realized that I was in Eggman's mountain base. I was occupying the body of a red echidna. _But… But Eggman was switching with Knuckles! How could he… Oh, no… He was just sleeping! How could I jump to such a conclusion? I should've considered that he was just sleeping! Now I… find the computer room!_

I searched the base for a computer room. I found it within several minutes. I pulled up a search browser.

"Prower Technologies dot com," I said as I typed it in. Once it loaded, I clicked ' _Product Services_ ', ' _Communicator_ ', and ' _Find My Communicator_ '.

 _Please enter your communicator's serial code. If you've forgotten it, the link below will lead you to a purchase verification page._

I typed my communicator's serial code and pressed enter. A map appeared on the screen. A red dot began to flash near my house, but it was moving. It was slowly inching towards my location. _Sonic probably told him to pick me up. He's gonna try something on the way here - I know it! I've gotta take the Eggmobile!_

Unsurprisingly, the Eggmobile was parked in the hangar. When I got into it, I noticed five shards of the Master Emerald behind the seat. They were useless, so I ignored them. I started the Eggmobile and flew towards my home.

x-x-x

Sonic was riding in the seat behind me. His feet were propped up and his eyes were closed. _Perfect._ I quietly removed the four chaos emeralds from their compartments. I jumped from my seat, kicked the yoke upwards, and flew. Sonic would crash, hopefully, and I'd have four chaos emeralds! Double win!

x-x-x

One hundred meters in front of me and roughly a kilometer above me, I spotted the Tornado 3 in a nosedive. Anger and fear course through me. I knew that Eggman had taken the emeralds and put the plane in a nosedive - there was no other explanation! There was no way that I could save it - and Sonic… _Unless I can jump into the cockpit!_ Doing so would require extremely accurate timing, but I was committed to it. I closed the hundred meter gap, steeled my nerves, and prepared to jump. _Alright, Knuckles can jump horizontally at, uh… five meters per second? And I'm five meters from where the plane will pass. It'll be one second above me in… I don't know the altitude or velocity! I have no idea when to jump… Ack! NOW!_

For the first time in a while, I relied on my sense of timing instead of algebra. I lept, sincerely hoping that I wasn't too late. In my peripheral, I saw Sonic fighting the wind to reach the controls, but I kept my eyes on the yoke. I didn't care if I landed in the plane - I only needed to push the yoke downwards. I was a bit early - I landed on the anterior windshield, but that was close enough for me to reach down and level the plane. I pulled myself into the seat. I was shaking badly.

"Wh… Kn… Kn… Knuckles!"

"Nope: Tails!"

"But… Then who-"

"Eggman."

"So where-"

"In Eggman's body."

"How-"

"I'll tell you later! Eggman's right there! I need you to bring him to the ground!" I pointed to Eggman, who was still descending. He was almost to the ground, though.

"A-alright! Ready!" I smiled. Sonic was always a quick thinker. Most people would still be in shock, but Sonic was ready to go. I flew three meters from the ground and reached towards Eggman. As I passed by him, Sonic sprang from the plane and tackled him from the air. The chaos emeralds flew from his grasp. I set the plane on auto-park and jumped out. Sonic had already collected the emeralds, and Eggman was in a tree. Before Sonic could climb the tree, Eggman had seen the Eggmobile floating in the air. He flew to it and drove away without a word. I high-fived Sonic. We hopped in the plane and flew home.

x-x-x

 _WHAT HAPPENED? HOW IN THE WORLD DID TAILS GET HERE SO FAST - AND_ _ **HOW**_ _DID HE_ _ **SAVE SONIC**_ _? Whatever - I'll crush them next time!_

x-x-x

"Yeah, this is Knuckles in Eggman's body."

"That's what I said!" Knuckles banged on the glass with his human hands.

"Yeah, I know. How'd this happen anyway? Wasn't Eggman in the middle of switching with him?"

"It looked like it at first, but it turns out he just fell asleep. He only woke up when I slammed the pod door. I should've considered that he was sleeping before!"

"It's no big deal - he didn't get the chaos emeralds and we all know who's who now."

"You almost died!" I felt the tears trying to escape my eyes.

"And you saved me, huh?" I nodded.

"Y-yeah…"

"So what's there to feel bad about?" He patted my back. I smiled.

"Yeah, yeah: all's well that ends well. Will you get me outta here, now?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Sonic unlocked the chamber and opened the door.

"I guess you want your body back, huh?" I gestured to the body I was occupying.

"Yeah. Better late than never!" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, get in the pod!" He did so, and I got in the other one. After switching, Knuckles started stretching. He was obviously happy to be in his own body.

"Alright, Sonic." I gave him a look of sympathy.

"Yeah, I know: I'm the only one who'll be useful in that robot, so you'll be using my body. Let's do it, already…" I nodded. We got in our pods and switched. Sonic remained in his pod while I put the robot in mine. I switched them and put Eggman's body back on its IVs - which we borrowed from the local hospital. Sonic emerged from his pod.

"Sorry, Sonic," I said in his voice.

"It's no big deal - this is actually pretty similar to my body!"

"Yeah… It's getting late, we should head to bed," I yawned.

"I agree. Don't forget to lock up the emeralds, though."

"I won't." I grabbed the emeralds from the plane. We left the workshop, entering the living room. "Good night!"

"Good night, bud!" Sonic took the couch, as always. I found Knuckles in the kitchen. He was eating grapes, which I always allowed him to help himself to.

"I've got guest bedrooms upstairs. You gonna use one?"

Hm? Oh, yeah. Thanks!" I nodded and went upstairs. After locking the emeralds in my safe, I entered one of the guest bedrooms. I took several blankets from the closet and prepared the bed. Once I was done, Knuckles was already up the stairs.

"Night, Knux!"

"Night, Tails!" I went to my room, got in my bed, and fell fast asleep.

* * *

Edit: FFN's mandatory auto correct is stupid and annoying. It changes whatever it thinks is wrong into whatever it thinks is right whether you like it or not. That's caused missing file names, missing but in the coding part, and now web addresses. It changed Prower Technologies dot com into just '.com'. I'm annoyed.

gabage6.2: Mecha Sonic's back!

Mind - Body

Tails - Sonic

Sonic - Mecha

Knuckles - Knuckles

Eggman - Tails

None - Eggman

Appreciation.


	13. Master Emerald

I'm thinking about starting another story. It'll take place after Sonic X. Sound interesting? Let me know what you think!

This one's twice as long as the others! Enjoy!

* * *

It had been five years since Knuckles had spilled everything he knew about the Master Emerald. The information was slipping my mind, but that didn't matter. I had it all documented, like any good scientist would. A quick search of my database brought the notes up immediately. I clicked it to refresh my memory.

 _The red hedgehog described the Master Emerald as sentient, though he did not use that word. I doubt the buffoon knows many words. He says that the Master Emerald can control the chaos emeralds if he wants it to. According to his ancestors' texts, chaos energy is a divine power that exists everywhere at once, but can only be drawn upon through altars and temples devoted to chaos. They believe that the chaos emeralds and Master Emerald were "forged in the heavens" by some deity of chaos. He also said that something's sleeping inside the Master Emerald, but that's all he knows. I'll dig deeper into that subject later. Finally, he mentioned that the Master Emerald was brought to a temple or altar to recharge, but that the chaos emeralds could recharge at long distances through a simple connection with the Master Emerald. He doesn't know much more because the Master Emerald "doesn't really like to talk about itself." He's crazy, if you ask me, but I've learned that the Master Emerald is certainly worth stealing!_

"Of course: nothing about it being shattered!" I clicked out of the notes. _But… Maybe I could use the altar to recharge pieces of it. That won't help me find the other pieces, but I can find the chaos emeralds with it - it was pure_ _ **luck**_ _that I was close enough to the emerald for a_ _ **ring**_ _to detect it, but now I'll be able to find the other three emeralds in no time! If… If the pieces can actually recharge… Don't know until I try!_

Once again, I went to the hangar and boarded the Eggmobile. The five fragments were still there. I located Angel Island on the map and took off.

x-x-x

I was the first awake, as expected. I made my bed and went downstairs to make breakfast. Sonic would have been snoring on the couch, but he was a robot - he couldn't snore. In the kitchen, I took out pancake mix, milk, and a griddle. I poured a proportional amount of mix and milk into a bowl and mixed it. I poured three large circles of the thick batter onto the griddle. Just before the first side of the pancakes were finished cooking, Knuckles came down the stairs.

"Mornin', Tails!"

"Good morning, Knuckles! Want pancakes?" I flipped the half-cooked cakes.

"That sounds great!"

"They'll be ready in a second. Go wake up Sonic for me."

"Okay!" Knuckles left the kitchen. After a moment, I heard a metallic bang, a surprised shout, and hysterical laughing. Fighting then broke out in the living room.

"PANCAKES ARE READY!" The fighting immediately stopped, and they were both in the kitchen in a second. They sat at the table and waited for their food. Once the pancakes were finished, I set them on three separate plates and served them. I knew that Sonic wouldn't be able to eat, but I wanted to watch him try. He picked up a piece with his fork and put it where his mouth would be, only to hit it against his metallic surface.

"Dang it, Tails!" Knuckles and I laughed. Sonic dropped the fork on the plate, pushed it to Knuckles, and crossed his arms. I finished my breakfast quickly and went upstairs. I put Knuckles's used sheets in the washing machine and came back down. Knuckles was done eating, so I collected the plates and placed them in the seats. After a moment, Knuckles spoke up.

"Who's ready to take down Eggman?" He stood up, awaiting an answer.

"I sure am! What about you, Tails?" Sonic looked at me; I thought for a moment.

"Maybe," I answered. "Or we could track down the last three emeralds."

"That's a good idea," Sonic commented.

Knuckles rested his fists on the table and thought for a moment. "Well, since Eggman's still out there, he's still a threat. If he puts the Master Emerald back together, we're in trouble!"

"And how's he gonna find those pieces? They don't have any chaos energy in them, so he has no way of tracking them down. And… How many pieces does the Master Emerald always break into? Twelve?" Knuckles nodded. I continued. "Yeah… he's not finding them soon."

"If he brings a piece of the Master Emerald to its altar, it'll start to regenerate its energy… And… You know, the Master Emerald isn't just a powerful rock - it speaks to me, it listens, it's wise and knowledgeable, it's... it's _sentient_! It _wants_ to put itself back together, so it'll share any energy it has with its pieces - it'll even try to _pull_ itself back together if it has enough energy! And that's a perfect way for Eggman to find the other pieces."

I only heard one problem with his explanation. "How would Eggman know to bring the pieces to the altar?"

Knuckles made a deadpan face, then frowned. "I, uh… I told him a lot about the Master Emerald the first time we met… when he convinced me to steal the chaos emeralds from you…"

"Knuckles," Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Shut up! That's in the past!" Knuckles sat down again. I was growing tired of standing and sat down, too. I had another question.

"Why hasn't he done that yet?" Knuckles shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows? He may have just wanted to grab a chaos emerald before he did it! Either way, we need to go to Angel Island - just in case."

"What if he's collecting chaos emeralds instead? Then we'd just be wasting time on Angel Island while he gets the other three emeralds."

"Wait," Sonic interrupted. "Tails, check my locator! We'll know exactly where he is! He still has your communicator, right?"

I shook my head. "I checked earlier. He tossed it out after he escaped. It's in the middle of a forest."

"Alright, how about this: drop me off at Angel Island while you two look for the emeralds. Tails, go get your communicator so I can tell you if Eggman shows up. How's that?" Sonic and I nodded in agreement. He nodded back. "See, I can come up with plans, too!"

"Never doubted ya, Knux," Sonic teased. Knuckles growled, so I ran off before another fight started. I followed Sonic's locator to my communicator's position and returned home with it. I left the two alone for three minutes, but I was surprised to find that nothing was wrong.

"Wow! I expected at least _something_ to be broken… Good job, you two!"

"Yeah, can we go now? Whatever Eggman's doing, we need to hurry up and stop him!" Knuckles stood up and headed towards the door of my workshop.

"Yeah. I'll get the emeralds from my room." Sonic and Knuckles entered me workshop while I retrieved the chaos emeralds. I brought them down to the plane and inserted them. Knuckles was riding the wing while Sonic sat in the passenger seat. I smiled. "Guess what!"

"What," they both asked.

"We've got four emeralds. That means a six hundred twenty-five kilometer radius!" Neither of them really cared.

"Cool! Let's go, now!" Knuckles was getting impatient. I started the plane and directed myself towards Angel Island.

x-x-x

I placed the armload of pieces onto the altar. I started at them for several seconds. My patience was wearing thin - ten whole seconds and nothing happened!

"You gonna recharge or not," I snapped. There was a subtle flicker of light. I studied it closer. _Did it react to my words?_ "Recharge!"

The light flickered once more. _It did, but I need it to stay!_ "Recharge permanently!"

The light returned - and stayed - but it was only a pinpoint. _If it's really sentient, maybe compliments will help._ "Recharge… O, good Master Emerald!"

The light grew. I smiled and laughed at my small victory, which caused the light to become even brighter. _Oh, yeah! Chaos is powered by… emotion and stuff!_ "O, great… powerful Master Emerald! I request thee to… regain thy… awesome power!"

The light did not become any brighter, but it spread slowly over the five pieces. Much of it was still left dark, though. _So you like praise, huh?_ "O, great, powerful, wise Master Emerald! Be restored to thy… glorious beauty! I call upon the power of chaos to, uh… rekindle thy mighty light!"

The light spread until it engulfed all five pieces. To my great annoyance, the light dimmed. I balled my fists, and the light immediately returned. Just then, the pieces began to emit a familiar sound: several vibrations of various pitches. I uncurled my fists and watched in wonder as the light began to pulse eerily.

 _Your temperamental soul is filled with zeal and petty annoyance. Your chants had little heart, but it was enough to restore my presence._ I heard no sound, but the neutral, impersonal voice invaded my mind.

"Sorry, what?"

 _Your temperamental soul is filled with zeal and petty annoyance. Your chants had little heart, but it was enough to restore my presence,_ the voice repeated.

"Uh… You… You're, uh… You talking to me?"

 _Indeed. I am talking to you. You have shattered me out of desperation, and now you summon my presence in an unwhole body._

"Uh, that was Knuckles who shattered you."

 _I do not heed corporeal figures, but the souls of those who inhabit them. You have inhabited multiple frames._

"Oh, uh… Sorry 'bout that…" I really hoped that I hadn't upset the Master Emerald. There was no telling what would happen if the power of chaos were against me!

 _I cannot be upset, nor can the power of chaos be turned against anyone or anything. I am ever unbiased. I yield power that is equivalent to the strength of the emotion of those who call upon me, limited only by what is available to me._

"Oh, really?"

 _Indeed._

"Do you answer questions?"

 _I do._

"What's the meaning of life?"

 _Life does not have one common meaning. Many lives do share meaning, but many vary. Do you wish to know the meaning of your life?_

"Yes."

 _The meaning of your life is to bring hope and joy to others._

"What? That's impossible! I spread destruction and despair!"

 _You have caused minimal destruction. The temporary despair you bring lays the foundation for unshakable hope. The terror you inspire creates room for joy when you are defeated._

"Bah, shut up! Where are Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles?"

 _They are on this island._

I cursed under my breath, snatched the pieces of the Master Emerald from the ground, carried them into the Eggmobile, and flew off.

* * *

Edit: Thanks for pointing that out, gabage6.2!

Well… The Master Emerald spoke to Eggman for the first time! I hope you enjoyed!

Eh, you know what I'm gonna say next.


	14. Chaos Lines

Sorry for the wait, but there first chapter of my new short story, _Chaos Regeneration_ , is now up! If you liked Sonic X or are interested, I suggest you give it a try!

Anyway, on with _Masterminds_!

* * *

The chaos map began to beep, so I looked down at it. I had expected there to be a dot at the edge of the map, but it was much closer, as if the chaos energy had just appeared. Strangely, there were several lines moving outwards from a single point; one of the eleven lines ran between us and that point, as well. There was no mistaking that it was Eggman with some of the Master Emerald's pieces. He had powered the pieces he had, and they were establishing an energy connection with both the remaining pieces and the chaos emeralds.

"Hey, Knuckles! Bad news! Eggman's brought the pieces to the altar!" Knuckles looked down at me from the wing.

"Fly faster, then!" I nodded.

"Hold on tight!" He prepared himself, and I set the plane into six-six gear. I closed the overhead windshield and flipped a green switch labeled ' _chaos boost_ '. The chaos emeralds began to glow, and the plane accelerated. The speedometer had just passed Mach two, and the accelerometer was at twenty meters per second per second. I had recently installed a new engine, but I hadn't reached Mach three with it. I thought that it would be a perfect time to test it.

"Uh, Tails?" I turned my attention to Sonic. "I think Knuckles wants you to slow down a bit."

I looked up at the wing. Knuckles was clinging to it with both hands and yelling in my direction. "Oh, sorry!"

I slowed down to Mach one; Knuckles regained his grip. I looked at the map. _Twenty kilometers left. Almost one minute._

One minute later, I landed the plane on the island. The signal was still on the map. Knuckles jumped from the wing. He grinned a bit, then yelled "let's go!"

He led the way to the altar, and Sonic and I followed. We climbed the altar's stairs to find it completely empty. I heard the sound of the Eggmobile in the distance. "Get back to the plane!"

We all rushed back to the plane. The map showed the location of the Eggmobile. We took back to the sky and followed the signal. It took thirty minutes to catch up to the grey aircraft - it was faster than I remembered. I inched up to Eggman's vehicle, but Knuckles suddenly jumped into it. He snatched up two pieces of the Master Emerald and returned to the plane. He was about to go back for the rest, but Eggman had closed his cover. Knuckles pounded on it, but it wouldn't budge. He jumped back to the plane and looked at me.

" _Shoot him down!_ " His voice was quiet through the glass and the wind, but I heard him. I was quite surprised by the suggestion. I shook my head. " _Why not?_ "

" _That's my body!_ "

" _I_ _can get him out before it crashes!"_ I shook my head again. I knew that there was nothing more to do. The engine was beginning to overheat, so I landed.

x-x-x

They may have gotten a couple pieces of the Master Emerald, but I'd gotten a headstart on finding the last three chaos emeralds! I immediately studied the new map. There were eleven lines. I then realized that seven were pieces and only three were emeralds - I could go through seven searched before finding an emerald! I chose a line at random and followed it.

x-x-x

Upon landing, Knuckles immediately left the plane and found a tree to wait under. Sonic poked his head over my seat and observed the map. "Uh, Tails? What's with all the lines?"

"It's like Knuckles said: the pieces that Eggman powered up are sharing energy with the other pieces… and the chaos emeralds, too. The lines are paths of chaos energy moving among the pieces." I turned off the map to save energy.

"Then what are we waiting for? The map's pointing right to the chaos emeralds!"

"The engine was getting pretty hot." I carefully propped my feet up on the control panel. Sonic crossed his metal arms and propped his metal feet on the back of my seat.

"So, do you have a handheld version of that map? I could find some emeralds on my own - that would double our efficiency, huh?"

"I'm working on one at home, but it's not finished."

"How about I go get it and bring some tools back so you can work on it?" I sighed.

"I can't just… There's so much more to do: I have to make it user-friendly, adapt it to a mobile interface-"

"I believe in you, buddy! You'll have it done in no time! So what do I need to grab?" I sighed again. He was dead set on this idea, and there was no stopping him.

"Just my laptop and the device. And an Ethernet cable."

"Where are those?"

"When you walk through the door, the device is on the overhead shelf to the left, and the laptop is on the desk to the right. An Ethernet cable is probably already plugged into it, but there's a box of cables under the desk if not." I pulled up my communicator's GPS, already prepared for his next question. I pointed. "Home is that way, one hundred kilometers."

"Cool! Be back in five!" I nodded, and he set off towards my home. I began to prepare my brain for a fierce session of coding.

 _This is Sonic's brain… This is gonna be tough… Wait! Sonic can only go Mach one in that body! Whatever… That means more time to prepare…_ I proceeded to mentally review my entire knowledge of coding. Fifteen minutes later, Sonic returned. He was wearing a large backpack, but I didn't question it.

"There wasn't anything plugged in. I don't know what an Ethernet cable looks like, so I just brought the whole box." I laughed, and he set everything on the ground. I hopped to the ground and dug an Ethernet cable from the box. I connected the device to the computer and opened Prower Programming. I had a long way to go. I shook my head.

"Sonic, I don't know about this… This could take hours…"

"Hours? Don't you just take whatever makes the plane's map work and put it in the handheld?" I was about to argue, but his words made sense! _I don't have to make it interactive and user-friendly! I'm not releasing it to the public - it's just for the team!_

"Yeah… Yeah!" I dug another Ethernet cable from the box and connected it to the plane. I sifted through the program files until I found a folder labeled ' _ChaosTracker_ '. It was a Python script file. I copied it onto the computer, then imported it into the software. I clicked ' _Save and test_ ', then ' _CTMobile_ '. The screen of the device immediately came to life, but nothing was on it. Sonic dropped a chaos emerald in my lap. I smiled, nodded, and put the emerald into the device's compartment. White lines then appeared on the screen.

"See? Told ya you could do it!" I laughed and explained my mistake to him. I disconnected and shut down everything, and Sonic took the device. "I just need a piece of the Master Emerald, now."

 _So_ _ **that's**_ _what the backpack's for! Of course!_ I retrieved one of the large, green shards from the plane and put it into the backpack.

"Alright! I'm off!" I grabbed his shoulder before he could leave.

"Hold on!" I took another chaos emerald from the plane, leaving only two more. I placed it into his chest compartment. His body went rigid, then shuddered. "I don't need such a big range on the map, now, since we have lines. This should help you a bit!"

"Th… Thanks! That… That feels _good_!" His robotic body relaxed. I nodded.

"It should. Go get the communicator from Knuckles before you go." He did so, gave a thumbs up, and disappeared into the distance. The engine was still warm, so I returned to the pilot's seat and relaxed.

* * *

This chapter is _so_ late! Sorry about that! I took the time to write a chapter of another story, but I got pretty sidetracked while writing this one! That's what happens when you procrastinate!


	15. Hometown

For the first time, we'll be having a POV other than Tails or Eggman! Enjoy!

* * *

The feeling of the chaos energy running through my simple, mechanical body still lingered. Following one of the lines on the map, I sped through a heavily wooded area. Sooner than I had expected, the line that I was following ended at a point, which slot into ten other lines. The map was a mess of lines, but the location of the center was still obvious. I reached that point fifteen seconds after it appeared on the screen. I looked up to find a piece of the Master Emerald, rather than a chaos emerald. _Dang… I guess I'll bring it back to Tails…_

I took up the shard and put it into my backpack. I noticed that it could fit one more fragment. _I could go for one more before dropping them off to him._

I looked down at my map, chose another line, and followed it at the speed of sound.

x-x-x

I kept my eyes glued to the screen. I was pushing the Eggmobile to its limit - five hundred meters per second - but my first line took nearly an hour to travel! _Almost one thousand eight hundred kilometers… I guess I should've expected more… It's a pretty big world!_

Once there, I searched the area. Almost instantly, I spotted a spec of green that was slightly lighter than the surrounding grass. I approached it, and confirmed that it was a chaos emerald. _How did I see that? This fox has good eyes!_

Despite the distance, it seemed that luck was on my side. Another thing that was on my side was my pure intelligence and observation. On the map, I noticed that the chaos emerald's point had two fewer lines coming from it than my point did. _The lines coming from my point that are missing from the chaos emerald's… must lead to the other two emeralds! I'm a genius!_

After a quick inspection, I determined which two lines led to the other two emeralds and let out my typical evil laugh. It didn't sound right in Tails's voice. I shrugged and followed one of the two determined lines.

x-x-x

To say that the search was boring would be an understatement. I had autopilot set on a straight path. We were traveling at a thousand meters per second - almost Mach three - for an hour, only stopping for gas twice! I had traveled three thousand kilometers and was still going! There only reason the engine wasn't overheating was because I wasn't using the energy from the chaos emeralds - I had determined that a damaged chaos transmission was the cause of the overheat before.

I took occasional glances at the map. I noticed that two pairs of lines were gradually merging together. Eventually, the pairs met and became one. I was certain of the meaning of this. _Sonic and Eggman have already found something._ I called Sonic in my communicator.

"Tails? Is something wrong?" Sonic's voice came through with the loud noise of the wind.

"No, I just saw that you found what you were looking for. Was it a chaos emerald?"

"Nope. A piece. What about you?"

"I've been following this line for three megameters, and I'm still not there."

"Wow… are you near the coast yet?" I checked the GPS. On pilot's mode, a straight line was drawn to represent my direct path, and every five minutes were labeled on it. The coastline was just under the five minute mark.

"Yeah, I am. I'm five minutes away. I'm gonna stop in Station Square to fix something. It's right on my path." Knuckles groaned behind me. "Hey, I have a workshop in Station Square. I'll be fixing the chaos transmission so we don't have to stop for gas anymore."

"Fine," Knuckles ended.

"What if it's not on the mainland? What's the next land it could be on?"

"West Side Island…"

"Oh… Well, where on West Side does your line go through?" I zoomed in on the GPS.

"Metropolis, Hill Top, and… the city…"

"Oh… Uh…"

"I don't want to go there…"

"I know…" I started at the map, hoping that I wouldn't have to go into the city. "Hey, it's been five years. Maybe they've changed."

"I doubt it." _People change, but not very often._ We sat for a minute before Knuckles broke the silence.

"Hey, Tails, don't miss your stop!" I looked to the ground. Station Square was approaching fast.

"Right!" I engaged the braking system and quickly decelerated below the sound barrier. I landed on the runway of my local workshop and drove it into the garage area. We exited the plane. Knuckles began to look around.

"How many workshops do you have?"

"Five."

"Huh…" I extracted the entire engine from the plane and isolated the chaos transmission, which didn't take long. Knuckles got back in the plane and waited impatiently while I diagnosed the issue. That didn't take long either; the problem was immediately obvious. A worn out energy cable was being fed more energy than it could handle and was releasing it as heat. I immediately got to replacing it. It was a quick job. Too quick. I really didn't want to go back to that island. I reassembled the engine and placed it back into the Tornado 3.

"All done!" Knuckles looked down from inside the plane.

"Already?" I nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. I drove the plane out of the garage, locked up the workshop, and took off.

x

Less than thirty minutes after we left Station Square, West Side Island came in sight. I looked down at the map. Sure enough, the line ended on the island and split into several other lines. I zoomed in on the map. _Dear, Chaos, why?_ _Of course it's in the city!_ I marked the exact location on my communicator's GPS, landed on the beach, and got out.

"So this is West Side?"

"Yeah. I want to get in and out of here as fast as we can, okay?"

"Why? It seems like a nice place." I shook my head.

"No. Not at all. If you're different in any way, they'll try to harass you about it in any way they can." Knuckles frowned. "And you're a red echidna, so be careful."

"Do the parents really let their kids-"

"It's not just kids - it's everyone!" I locked up the plane. "So let's get out of here as fast as we can, okay?"

"Wow… Yeah… Let's go, then…" We left the beach and entered the forest that lined the coast. Directly in the other side was the place that I'd wished never to visit again. The city I spent the first few years of my life in.

"Sonic! You're back!" I heard the call from the other side of the street. _And so it begins._ I nodded and kept walking. There were several others who called out to me, but one weasel walked up to me.

"Hey, Sonic! Where's that fox?" I stopped, trying not to glare.

"You mean Tails?"

"Yeah. Miles. Does he still follow you around?" I nearly growled at the question.

"Not really. He's doing just fine on his own."

"Oh, really?" His voice was dripping with incredulity. He typed something into a beige communicator on his wrist. _Oh, sweet irony._

"Yeah. In fact, you're wearing his name around your wrist right now." The weasel looked back down at his communicator again and gave me a confused glare. It felt _so_ good to put a West Sider in his place! "Prower Technologies. Tell that to all your friends, too."

He glared again and walked away with nothing else to say.

"Dang, Tails," Knuckles chuckled.

"Sorry… Let's hurry…" We followed the point on the GPS. On our way, I noticed that most people wore a communicator on their wrist. I mused at the thought. _All those people who mistreated me… Now they're all buying from me!_

The GPS eventually led us to the city hall. We entered without hesitation. The secretary, an elderly squirrel, looked up from the papers she was working on.

"Ah… Sonic! What brings you to this city hall?" She set the papers to the side and put on a friendly facade, just like everyone else.

"We're looking for something, and it's in this building," I stated bluntly.

"Oh… Alright, what are you looking for?" Just then, a set of doors to the right were pushed open. Several people exited the room, followed by four men carrying a large, green shard on a protected pedestal.

"That," Knuckles answered, pointing. "We need it."

This got the attention of one of the people, a small buffalo in a tight fitting suit. He broke from the group to meet us. He held out his hand, which also sported a communicator. "Sonic the Hedgehog! I am Bauph L. Oughe, mayor of West Side City!"

I shook his hand with concealed contempt. "I hear that you want this shard of the Master Emerald! Transferring it into your care should be no problem - it would take a few days, by law… Unless you want to steal it now - I'm sure we could turn a blind eye to that…"

Knuckles eagerly agreed, but I shook my head. "I would assume so. You seem to turn a _lot_ of blind eyes. Just keep it safe - Eggman's after it."

He paused, not knowing what to say. Knuckles, though, had something to say. "Sonic, we _need_ it! Just take his offer!"

I shook my head again. "We'll wait a few days for it once it's all over."

" _Sonic! It's! The! Master! Emerald!_ " He stepped towards the mayor. "I'll do it! Where is it now?"

"Ah, good! It's being brought to the vaults for security. They should be down Main Street, taking the second ri-"

"Knuckles, if you steal it, I swear I'll leave you here!" He looked at me with disbelief.

"Don't worry, Knuckles. I've got a jet that you can borrow to fly home!" Something was off. I felt that the mayor was being oddly desperate. I had a few theories.

"Why do you want us to steal it so badly? Publicity? Some action in this quiet city?" The mayor was silent. I really didn't care about his motives, though. I turned to Knuckles. "Come on. It's safe. We need to hurry on to get the next one."

He didn't budge for a moment. I shook his shoulder. "Knuckles! We need to go! We'll come back to get it!"

He mumbled something and finally turned around. "Fine. Let's get going, then."

* * *

Kind of a long chapter, here! I hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews are appreciated!


	16. Almost There

Sorry about the wait!

* * *

The Eggmobile was fast, but it was not aerodynamic. That meant that it was not very energy efficient. Luckily, though, I had bases all around the world. At some point during the trip for my second chaos emerald, I made a detour to one of these bases. This base was deep underground, resting right on top of the bedrock. I took a hidden elevator down, which took several minutes. The doors opened to reveal everything just how I left it. I would have stayed for a while, but I didn't want to waste any time. I had been traveling for three hours, five metameters, and I likely had much more to go.

I traversed the Eggmobile-accessible hallways until I came across the the aircraft storage. Inside, three identical military-grade jets rested side-by-side. I booted up a nearby terminal. The screen was black with green text, and there were three sections - one for each jet.

 _1 - Ready_

 _Acceleration: 4g; 40m/s_ _2_ _; 1.5s_

 _Full Speed: Mach 3; 1029m/s; 3.7Mm/h_

 _25.725 seconds to full speed_

There was more information, but I didn't bother reading it. The next two sections were identical. _One kilometer per_ _ **second**_ _! That's double the Eggmobile!_ In the command center, I typed ' _/toHangar(1)_ ', hit enter, and the first jet began to move backwards.

I exited the storage and headed towards the hangar. There was the jet, ready to fly. I transferred the chaos emerald, my three pieces of the Master Emerald, and my removable tracker from the Eggmobile to my new aircraft and climbed into the cockpit. I hadn't flown a jet in years, but I still remembered how. I started it, drove it to the launch track, and let down the launch gear. The launch track accelerated me towards the surface at four G's. I expected to feel a little nauseated from the pressure, but I was just fine! _Another bonus if being Tails._

I was shot into the sky. I redetermined which two paths led to the chaos emeralds and resumed following the one that I was on before.

x-x-x

"How'd it go?" The sound of the wind and the pounding of feet could be heard over the communicator. Sonic was still running, as expected.

"It was a piece. We didn't get it, but it's safe where it is."

"We should've taken it," Knuckles commented.

"Why didn't you," Sonic asked.

"No good reason!" I rolled my eyes at Knuckles's retort.

"A _very_ good reason! It would take a few days to get it legally. The mayor offered to let us steal it, but you know he can't be trusted. He would _certainly_ blame us for a little publicity!" Knuckles grumbled something, but I ignored him. "Guess what, Sonic!"

"What?"

"Everyone on West Side Island uses Prower products!" There was a bout of laughter from Sonic.

"For real?"

"Yeah!"

"That's crazy…" Apart from the sounds coming through the communicator, there was silence. It was broken by Sonic several minutes later. "It's on my screen!"

"Is it a piece?" Knuckles asked this, finally deciding to give a positive contribution to the conversation.

"Well… I dunno yet…" There were several seconds of anticipation. "Um… I'm here, but… Oh, there it is! It's a piece."

I groaned while Knuckles cheered. "Make sure you don't leave it behind like Tails did!"

"Quiet, Knuckles!" He only laughed. "We really need to start getting emeralds - fast! We have there pieces, leaving for more, potentially. Eggman's found one thing and he's headed for his second. If he gets the emeralds, he still has a chance!"

"He's never got a chance! We always win… Oh, yeah, where do you want to meet? I have to drop off these pieces to you - my bag's full."

I checked the time and my location. If I headed home, it would be very late by the time I got there. Both Sonic and I were close to Station Square, though. "How about Station Square? From where you are now, you can get there in under three hours."

"Sounds good! See ya there!" He ended the communication. Knuckles, of course, had a complaint.

"Really? Station Square again? Why not have him meet us on our way to the next piece?"

"Because I'm starving. Aren't you?"

"No! We need to put together the Master Emerald!"

"Can't do that if we starve to death! I promise this will be our last stop until night."

"… Fine…"

x-x-x

The day was almost over by the time I came across my second emerald. I landed to retrieve the emerald, and I put it under the pilot's seat. I took back to the sky and directed myself to the nearest city in search of a place to sleep. I only had one problem. _How will I pay for it? I don't have any money… and it's not easy to steal a night in a hotel… Do I even need a hotel? Can I just sleep in here?_ I checked my seat for a way to lay back, but there was none. _Why did I think a fighter jet would have a reclining seat… I have nowhere to sleep…_

Twenty minutes later, I arrived at the city. The sun had already set, and the sky was black. Although the lights were plentiful in the streets, I noticed that the rooftops were very dark. _Of course! I'll sleep on the roof! I'll have to land somewhere else, though… Anywhere outside the city should do!_ I landed the jet in a flat, open area near a forest, locked it up, and set off on foot towards the city. I flew to the top of the first building I came across. I lied down, crossed my legs, and put my hands under my head. The city noise and hard rooftop mixed with Tails's mild insomnia made going to sleep a trip and a half through hell. Eventually, though, sleep came.

* * *

There are four pieces and one emerald left to find. I may skip all that, though, because it's always the same thing. Just letting you all know, the end may be coming fast! Please do review if you liked it!


	17. Ask The Emerald

As the days passed, the lines on the map continued to merge together. Each time Sonic's line met another, I called to ask what he had found. Each time, he answered that it was a piece of the Master Emerald. Never a chaos emerald. Each time I found something, it was a piece. No chaos emeralds. Within a week, only three lines remained on my map: Sonic, Eggman, and the piece on West Side Island. There was nothing more to find, so I called Sonic, telling him to meet Knuckles and me at Angel Island.

Inside my plane were six pieces of the Master Emerald. Eggman had three, Sonic had two, and one was at West Side. We had found no more chaos emeralds, and that meant that Eggman had found them.

x

Sonic was waiting on the beach, the nearest point to the island. I flew low for him to jump onto the plane and flew to Angel Island. We landed next to the altar and had a meeting on top of it.

"Eggman has the other three chaos emeralds," I began. "But, we have two thirds of the Master Emerald. What do you think, Knuckles: should we try to charge up the pieces we have and do something with it?"

"We won't be able to do anything but talk to it without the whole thing, but yes. The Master Emerald knows all, and it'll be very helpful."

"On it!" Sonic sped down the altar stairs to the plane. He returned seconds later with two pieces of the Master Emerald. Repeating the process, he had all eight of our pieces on the altar in less than a minute. "Your turn, Knux!*

"Oh… Right… Do you two mind waiting down at the plane? It's hard to focus with others around." We nodded and returned to the plane. For the next several minutes, I could hear Knuckles's voice, but couldn't make out any words. When his chanting was over, we climbed the altar again, and the Master Emerald was shining a brought green. I couldn't hear the small noises that I normally heard from it, but I was excited to find out how it could help us.

"Is it ready?"

"Yes."

"Cool! Let's ask it something!" Knuckles shook his head.

"It's just gonna be hours of getting nowhere if we ask questions now. We need to wait until we have specific questions with specific answers."

"Oh, come on, Knux," Sonic said. "We've got a specific question! Hey, Master Emerald, how do we defeated Eggman?"

 _You defeat Dr. Eggman any way you please._

"Uh… How _can_ we defeat Eggman?"

 _There are several ways in which you can defeat Dr. Eggman._

"What's the _best_ way we can defeat Eggman?"

 _The best way for you to defeat Dr. Eggman is by taking his chaos emeralds and using their power against him._

"What's the quickest safe way to take Eggman's chaos emeralds?"

 _The quickest way to safely take Dr. Eggman's chaos emeralds is by force._

"By force, huh? I wasn't expecting that to be considered safe, but I'm all for it! Where is Eggman right now?"

 _Dr. Eggman is on a rolling chair._ Sonic sighed.

"Where's the rolling chair?"

 _There are many rolling chairs in the world. The nearest rolling chair to you is in James Parker's study_

"Ugh! Where is _Eggman's_ rolling chair?"

 _Dr. Eggman has many rolling chairs. The nearest of Dr. Eggman's rolling chairs to you is under Dr. Eggman's bottom._

"See what I mean? You're not gonna get anything useful until you have a specific question with a specific answer." Sonic ignored Knuckles.

"Alright, then, Emerald, how about I-"

"Hold on," I interrupted. I prepared my GPS. "What are Eggman's coordinates?"

 _Dr. Eggman is at coordinates ninety-six point four two west, thirty-five point eight five north._ I typed the numbers as they were spoken, then examined the indicated location.

"He's at his main base."

"Hm… How can Knuckles stand living with you?"

 _Knuckles does not ask vague questions, so he is not annoyed by vague answers. Likewise, I converse with Knuckles using specific, complete sentences._

"Okay, whatever… Oh! Can you show us Eggman?"

 _I can not create any visual images until I am whole._

"Oh… What _can_ you do while you're unwhole?"

 _I can transfer energy to other pieces of myself and the chaos emeralds, and I can speak. That is all._

"Okay, what-"

"Sonic, that's enough questions!" Knuckles stood between Sonic and the Master Emerald. "We should get going already!"

We silently agreed. Knuckles loaded the incomplete Master Emerald while I started the plane. We were set and in the air in minutes. While we were flying, I had an idea.

 _Hey, Master Emerald! Can you hear me?_

 _I can hear you._ I wasn't very surprised, but I was smiling eagerly.

 _Cool! I have a question: what are those vibrations that I always hear from you? I don't hear them right now, but… what are they?_

 _That is the sound of energy being transferred to the chaos emeralds and, at the moment, the rest of myself._

 _Oh! That makes sense… So… You're constantly transferring energy to the chaos emeralds? Don't they have a maximum capacity?_

 _They do have a maximum capacity of energy, but they are almost always using some of it. The reason you can not hear it now is because of the set of ears you are currently using: they are far inferior to your own ears._

 _Oh… What are the chaos emeralds always using energy for? They're almost always hidden away from people, right?_

 _They are, but one does not have to be holding a chaos emerald to receive energy from it. Do you wish for a more detailed explanation?_

 _Yes, please!_

 _I shall provide one, then. The chaos emeralds can sense all emotion throughout the universe at all times. By nature, the chaos emeralds are transferring energy to everyone in the universe who is feeling any degree of emotion. As you can see, distance does not prevent chaos emeralds from transferring energy, but it does limit it. One who is far away from a chaos emerald can not receive nearly as much energy as one who is near._

 _Okay… How much does the distance affect the energy transfer? It can't be proportional, so… is it the inverse square?_

 _Correct. This can be represented as the inverse square of the distance multiplied by the degree of emotion squared._

 _How… How do you quantify emotion? Is that possible?_

 _It is possible. Emotion is simply particular chemicals released into the bloodstream. The "degree of emotion" is the measurement of how saturated the bloodstream is with emotional chemicals._

 _Hm… That makes sense… Is that all there is to it?_

 _You have heard the very basics, but have only scratched the surface of the nature of the chaos emeralds._

 _Oh…_

x

The Master Emerald and I 'spoke' throughout the entire flight. We discussed many topics of mechanics and mathematics. I learned several things, but our time was cut short by our arrival at Eggman's base. I turned off the plane and blacked out.

* * *

I still appreciate reviews... Please feel free to tell me how you like this story!


	18. Invasion

It's been a while, but that's because I was working on chapter one of a new story. I've decided, though, that I'll wait to finish this one until I begin another one.

Imnotravem16: It's great to hear that you're liking the story so far! Here's another chapter for you!

If there's ever anything that you think could make this better, please let me know because I'm always open to criticism and improvement.

Mind - Body

Tails - Tails

Sonic - Mecha

Knuckles - Knuckles

Eggman - Sonic

None - Eggman

* * *

I opened my eyes to find myself in the floor of Eggman's computer room. I was laying next to a window, and I was in my own body. I was initially happy, but quickly became alarmed. I scrambled to my feet. The first thing I saw was pieces of a small, broken machine next to the window. Itwas much different from Eggman's other switching machine, but I knew that it did the same thing. _He switched us! How could I forget the tin foil? That was the most crucial part!_

Outside of the window, I saw my plane. Inside of it was Sonic, Eggman, and Knuckles. They dismounted the plane as if nothing had happened! Eggman, in Sonic's body, looked up to the window and gave me a smug smile. The three of them entered the base. I knew that there was only one thing for me to do. I needed an army of badniks!

x-x-x

 _Switcher 2.0 worked like a charm! No recovery time at all; no one noticed a thing!_ Sonic, Knuckles, and I were strolling down the main corridor of my base. Neither of them had spoken since we had entered the building. Sonic had one emerald, Knuckles had another, and I had the other two. _Perfect time to execute my plan…_

"Hey, Sonic! I know where you should check first to find Eggman!" Sonic flicked his robotic eyes towards me.

"Where?"

"There's a small room called the 'invasion room'. That's where Eggman goes to handle invasions and control his defense robots. If you take the main elevator to the third floor and go right, it's the third door on the left. The elevator's at the end of this hall. Got it?"

"Yeah, but… How do you know this?"

"I lived here for a few days, remember?"

"Oh, yeah… Well, be careful, Tails! If any badniks show up don't hesitate to smash 'em!" I smiled.

"I won't!" Sonic dashed off, leaving Knuckles and I behind. I turned to Knuckles.

"The rest of the Master Emerald is probably in Eggman's treasury. Take the main elevator to the basement, and it's the door right in front of you when you get out." Knuckles grinned.

"Awesome! Thanks!" He ran off in the same direction as Sonic. I quietly laughed. _Too easy!_ I began to run after Knuckles. I passed him and stopped at the elevator. I turned right and took the stairs. Within seconds, I was on the third floor. I peeked around the corner between the staircase and the hallway. I saw the elevator doors slide open, and Sonic ran to the door that I had specified. He opened the door and was immediately forced into the room. With a victorious clap, I ran towards the open door. Sonic's robotic body was stuck to the electromagnet that I had installed into the wall. I smirked at his helpless state. I walked up to him and opened his chest compartment, revealing a chaos emerald.

"I'll be taking that, my friend!" Sonic growled as I took the gem, but it came out sounding rather static. I simply laughed and returned to the stairs. I raced to the basement to collect Knuckles's emerald as well. After a moment, the elevator door opened. Knuckles walked forwards and put his hand on the door's handle. He pulled it away with a string of curses and clutched it with his other hand. I raced up to him. He looked at me with confusion for several moments, then passed out. _Hidden tranquilizing_ _needle_ _on_ the _door handle!_ I laughed, took his emerald, and ran up to the second floor, where I had stashed the last three emeralds.

As soon as I had emerged from the stairs, I ran into the first badnik. As Sonic had advised, I didn't hesitate to smash it. _I don't need these robots anymore! I'm_ _ **Sonic the Hedgehog**_ _and I'll have_ _ **all seven chaos emeralds**_ _in a moment!_ I faced a small army of badniks on the way to my stash of emeralds. They were no threat to me, however! I spun, dashed, and kicked through them with an unfamiliar rush of excitement. I made my way to the emeralds in no time. I dug them from the box of junk that I had hidden them in. _It is finished._

x-x-x

The door behind me crashed open. I jumped and spun to find Eggman across the room from me. He wore a twisted grin.

"Well, well, well, Tails! It looks like this is the end of the story!" I shook my head. My mind was racing and my eyes darted around the room in search of… something - anything! I opened my mouth to speak, but I was interrupted. "Don't bother hoping for help from Sonic or Knuckles."

My entire body was shaking. "What'd you… do? What'd you do?"

"Sonic's stuck to a magnetic wall, and Knuckles is out cold with tranquilizers!" Eggman launched into his typical monologue. Meanwhile, I resorted to my thoughts.

 _Master Emerald! Master Emerald? Are you there?_

 _Yes, Tails._

 _Is there a way to escape this?_

 _There is not._ I began to panic.

 _Uh… Uh… Can I win at all?_

 _Yes. You can win._

 _How?_

 _You may win by taking the chaos emeralds._ I growled.

 _How do I do_ _ **that?**_

 _You may take the chaos emeralds by approaching him and grabbing them._

 _Bah! How am I supposed to-_ I had an idea. _Wait… Can you speak to Eggman?_

 _I can._

 _Can you tell him what I say?_

 _I can. I can say anything to anyone, unless I am told not to._

 _Great!_

"So, any last words?" Eggman lifted his arms, and the chaos emeralds began to orbit him. I smirked.

 _Master Emerald, sing "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" by Tiny Tim to Eggman!_

Eggman's quills suddenly stood on end. After a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears. I took the opportunity to snatch three of the emeralds out of the air. They began to circle above my head. This got Eggman's attention he shook his head several times.

 _Eggman has requested that I stop singing to him._

 _That's fine! Thanks, Master Emerald!_

 _You are welcome, Tails._

Eggman was livid. The emeralds continued to orbit Eggman, but slowly. He tried to tackle me, but I was ready. I stepped out of the way, and my emeralds followed. He turned and threw a punch, but it barely grazed my cheek. I returned a tail swipe, but missed. _Why didn't I bring my steel tails? Those would be so useful right now! Oh yeah: I wasn't in my own body..._ Eggman and I engaged in close combat. The chaos emeralds began to circle above both of us. We continued to throw and dodge punches and kicks.

Finally, Eggman began to charge a spindash, though it was poorly initiated. I imitated his move, and began to perform a perfect charge. As the speed of my spindash surpassed a thousand rounds per minute, a bright light began to shine. As I accelerated, the light shone brighter. After another second, the light was gone. I kicked off and slammed my spinning body into the opposing hedgehog, throwing him into the wall. He recovered quickly, boring his red eyes into my golden. The luminescence of his golden fur clashed with the luster of my silver fur. On the ground, the chaos emeralds shined dimly. I smiled, for I had a chance at victory.

* * *

What do you think of my design of Super Tails? I think Sega was pretty lazy with his design, so there's mine: silver fur, gold eyes.

If you like the story or have a criticism, please do say so! Like I said, I'm always open!


	19. Final Battle

At long last, this story is coming to a close. Here, my friends, is the final battle.

* * *

 _Pro: I'm in my super form. Pro: Eggman doesn't know how to properly fight with Sonic's body. Con: he'll probably learn pretty quickly. Con: I'm alone. Con: I'm not as familiar with this place as Eggman. Con: I'm fighting Super Sonic! I don't like these odds, but I can try to even them out…_ Eggman threw a sloppy punch. I tried to grab it and sling him against a wall, but I only managed to throw him a few meters. _I can fix one of those cons by finding Sonic and Knuckles!_ _Master Emerald?_

 _Yes, Tails?_

 _Where's - oof - Sonic?_ Eggman had delivered a kick to my shoulder, but I was prepared.

 _Sonic is stuck against a magnetic wall._ I landed a swift punch to his jaw, and he staggered backwards.

 _Ugh… What floor of this building is Sonic on?_ Eggman quickly regained his balance.

 _Sonic is on the third floor of this building._ He lunged towards me, but I sidestepped.

 _What floor is Knuckles on?_ While Eggman was still down, I ran up to him, wrapped my tails around his neck, and began to kick at his back.

 _Knuckles is on the basement floor._ With great difficulty, he threw me off and tried again to punch at me. Instead of blocking it, though, I went straight for the door.

 _How long until Knuckles wakes up?_ Eggman chased after me.

 _Knuckles should recover from the sedatives in less than two minutes. The future is never certain, however._ Instead of taking time to find the stairs, I gathered up my strength and busted through the floor. This caught Eggman off guard. I took my advantage and hid on the ceiling right next to the hole I had just made. As he passed through the hole, I delivered a nasty blow to his nose and several subsequent kicks.

 _What floor am I on now?_ Eggman growled and got to his feet.

 _You are on the ground floor._ I busted through the floor again to reach the basement floor _._ Knuckles wasn't very far away. I flew towards him and turned to face Eggman. He seemed to know what I was planning to do and tried to get around me to Knuckles. I defended Knuckles from Eggman's attacks for just over a minute. Just as the Master Emerald had said, he began to wake up. He groaned and sat up.

"Knuckles! You're awake!" Eggman growled at me. He was about to say something, but I punched him in the face. "Knuckles, go get Sonic! He's on-"

Before I could finish, Knuckles placed himself between Eggman and me. "Which one of you is Eggman?"

"He is," we replied in unison. Knuckles crossed his arms.

"That's what I thought. Will Sonic know who is who?" Again, we answered in unison, but Eggman said no while I said maybe. "So he may know… I'm going to get him. Whichever one of you is Tails, keep Eggman from stopping me."

We both lunged at each other and continued our brawl as Knuckles ran off.

x-x-x

After a few minutes of struggling, I decided to quit and save my energy. Another minute later, Knuckles appeared. I was going to greet him, but he jumped to the point.

"Who's Eggman and who's Tails?"

"Nice to see you, too," I muttered. "Eggman's in my body and Tails is in his own. They switched."

"I see…" Knuckles grabbed me and tried to pry me from the wall, but could only gain a few inches. "I can't get you off… I'll be back!"

"Hey, you can still shut it down!"

"How?"

"I dunno… Punch through the wall and pull out some wires?"

"And get myself electrocuted? I'll let Tails figure this one out." I tried to protest the decision, but there was nothing I could do about it. Knuckles left.

x-x-x

Knuckles finally returned, but Sonic was not with him. He stood beside me and raised his fists at Eggman.

"You didn't bring Sonic?"

"No, I couldn't, but he told me who's who."

"Good. I'll set you up for some hits. Get ready!" I launched myself at Eggman. We struggled for a bit before I got a grip on him. I held him by the arms and faced him towards Knuckles. The following punch was hard enough to send both of us backwards a few meters, and Eggman's tainted aura dimmed noticeably. I was about to bring him forward for a second punch, but he broke free and began to beat up on me. I defended myself until Knuckles stepped in and threw him off of me. I thanked him and righted myself. I noticed that Eggman was slowly regaining luminosity: regaining chaos energy.

"Knuckles! Go to the third floor and get the chaos emeralds! I need you to drain them!" I blocked an attack from Eggman.

"Drain them? Completely?" Knuckles grazed Eggman with a punch.

"Yes! Hurry! He's regaining energy from them!" I shoved Eggman away from Knuckles, who accepted the suggestion and ran off for a third time.

x-x-x

I didn't enjoy taking orders from someone half my age, but it was for the best. _Tails knows what he's doing._ I took the stairs to the second floor, then realized that I had no idea where I was going. _Master Emerald._

 _Yes, Knuckles?_

 _Guide me to the chaos emeralds._

 _Turn around. Move four meters forward… turn right. Move forward seventeen meters… turn right. Enter the room… You have arrived at your destination._

 _Thanks._

 _It is no problem._

The room that I was guided to was filled with broken computers. On the floor were the seven gems that I was sent to retrieved. They shown only half as bright as they normally did. As I had done several times before, I held my hand towards them, and they gravitated towards me. Once they were orbiting me, I left the room to return to Sonic.

x-x-x

I was growing weary. Very weary. Eggman, on the other hand, was very lively and full of anger. I resorted to a full defensive: I turned and put up my tails. Eggman tried to ram directly through my defences, but all he got from it was a hard tail-thrashing to the head. He tried to jump over me to gain an advantageous angle, but I was quick to turn around. He was quick to cut his losses and try something new. He began to circle me and accelerated until he was a solid gold streak. The air began to rip and collapse around me, creating a continuous sonic boom. My first thought was that I needed a way out. _If I try to go over, he'll intercept me… If I try to ram through it, that'll be a bunch of broken bones… Oh! Master Emerald! What should I do to survive?_

 _You should do nothing._

 _Nothing? He's closing a hypersonic speed circle in around me! I'll be dead if he finishes!_

 _He is currently struggling to maintain his angular momentum. He can not continue closing in on you while maintaining his speed._

 _Oh… Oh, yeah! That's right! Thanks!_

Eggman slowly drew closer, but the sonic boom began to wane. The golden streak began to lose its solidity. By the time he was an arm's length from me, he was moving slow enough to bust through. I gathered my energy and charged forward. We collided. For the first time in the fight, I was dizzy. Eggman was on his feet before I was. I held out my arms, which were orange instead of silver. Eggman was about to strike, but an orange echidna rammed into him. I then blacked out.

x

I wake up in the seat of my plane. I first looked up to find Sonic asleep on the wing. Behind me, Knuckles was holding onto an unconscious Eggman.

"You're awake!"

"Yeah," I grumbled while rubbing my head.

"Start up the plane. I think it's about time Sonic wakes up, too." I did as he suggested. I laughed when Sonic jumped to his feet in surprise. He glared at Knuckles and sat down on the edge of the wing. "I think it's time we head home and put everyone in their own body."

I nodded in agreement and took to the sky.

* * *

Sorry this is so late: fight scenes are _so_ hard! There will be an epilogue, so be expecting it pretty soon! I appreciate all criticisms and reviews, so tell me how you feel about this, if you want!


	20. Epilogue

I have a question for everybody at the end of this epilogue, so please don't skip over the final note.

It's kind of sad… this is the epilogue of my first story on this site… I really hope you enjoy it!

At some point during the flight home, Eggman woke up. He struggled to break free from Knuckles's grip, but failed, of course. Once home, I parked the plane in its spot in the three plane garage, which was right next to the switching machine. We transferred the struggling hedgehog from the plane into the nearest pod. I detached Eggman's body from the nutrient IVs we 'borrowed' from the hospital and - with Sonic's help - drug it into the other pod. Knuckles was holding the door of Sonic's pod shut. I hurried to press the activation button, and Eggman stopped struggling.

The pods opened after a minute. Knuckles drug the sleeping Eggman from his pod, and Sonic took his place. After another transfer, Sonic was in his own body, leaving an unprogrammed android behind. I put the robot back in storage and had Knuckles lock Eggman in an experimental chamber. I left a pack of ramen and a disposable cup of tap water in the chamber. Sonic and Knuckles thought it was too generous, so I replaced the ramen with a can of green beans.

"Come on, Tails! Give him vinegar instead of water!" I groaned.

"Knuckles, vinegar's expensive. I can't just-"

"You own a business, don't you? I think you can afford it!"

"Yes, no. I only take a little income for myself, but that's irrelevant! We have a problem…" We moved from the garage to the living room to discuss it.

"Well, what's the problem?" Sonic crossed his arms impatiently.

"Well… The few times we've actually ever captured Eggman, we gave him to GUN for imprisonment, but he always eventually escapes, right?" Both nodded. "Eggman's going to escape no matter what. The problem is: we only beat Eggman because he originally misfired and switched with me instead of you, Knuckles. When he gets out, he's _going_ to try again, and we won't even know to stop him!"

Silence. Sonic, for once, didn't have a reply. It was surreal to see him not give a thumbs up and some sort of reassurance. This time, our regular solutions were obsolete, and we all knew it.

"Can you… make some sort of memory washing machine?" I shook my head at Sonic.

"I don't see why we don't just poison him and hide the body." Sonic glared at Knuckles.

"That experiment chamber also serves as a vacuum chamber. I can turn it on and watch him explode! There might be a lot of pieces to hide, though…" Sonic gawked at me, but Knuckles laughed. Sonic was at a loss of words. "I'm kidding!"

He sighed. "Knuckles, is there anything the Master Emerald can do about this?"

"Well… I don't know! There's nothing it can do right now, but…"

"Yeah! Tails, you go to Wests… No, bad idea… I'll go to Westside to get that piece back, you two go to Eggman's base to search for the other three." Knuckles considered the idea for a second before accepting.

"I'll need to delete the machine's blueprints from his database while we're there… Also… How are you going to get to Westside?"

"Uh… I'll use the chaos emeralds!"

"I had Knuckles drain them."

"Right… How about I fly there?"

"How?"

"In your other plane! I can fly it, remember?"

"Yeah… The Tornado 2's at my Central City workshop… Let me get the keys." I retrieved my workshop keychain from my plane. "Here. Central City's the copper key."

x-x-x

I had a rough takeoff, flight, and landing, but I made it there. I called Tails as soon as I was out of the plane. My brother's voice came through the communicator.

"Hey, Sonic! How's it going?"

"I just landed. How are things going over there?"

"Oh, we finished hours ago. All we need now is the last piece." I scoffed.

"Hours ago? It's still daytime!"

"Where you are… Anyways, ask the mayor about it. He's probably in the city hall… If he says anything about last visit, just go with it."

"Uh… right… thanks…" I hung up and circled the city a few times before entering. I assumed that the large building labeled 'City Hall' was the city hall, so I entered. As Tails had suggested, the mayor was there. When I asked him, however, I was grumpily informed that GUN had confiscated it. I decided to say nothing more and returned to the plane. Again, I called Tails.

"GUN confiscated it."

"GUN? Oh, good! Are you gonna be meeting with the Commander?" I shuddered.

"Uh… Commander and I had a pretty nasty argument during the whole monopoly incident, remember?"

"Oh, yeah… I guess you want me to go instead?"

"Come on, the Commander likes you! You've got the best chance of getting it back."

"Yeah, I know… He's just… scary…"

x-x-x

I arrived at GUN HQ. Inside, I asked the secretary if the Commander was available. He was, so I made my way to his office. I knocked.

"Come in!" The Commander was sitting at his desk. The office was a neat, round room with a round table in the middle. The Commander greeted me loudly and offered a seat. After formalities, I asked about the piece of the Master Emerald.

"The piece we took from Westside City? Yeah, we've got it! Do you need it?"

"Yes, sir, it's the only one left!" He turned towards his desk.

"I'll write a transfer order…" He picked up a pen and began to jot something on a piece of paper. Afterwards, he stamped a seal onto it. He turned and handed me the paper. "Give this to the secretary. She'll know what to do."

I too the paper and got up. "Thank you, sir!"

"Anytime, Tails." I left the room and returned to the secretary. I gave her the paper. She read the order and dialed a number into her phone.

"Send two men from your department to the lobby, please. Thank you." She returned the paper to me. "Give these to one of them when they get here."

"Yes, ma'am." A minute later, two men in GUN uniforms arrived in the lobby. I handed the paper to the nearest one. He nodded and led me down a flight of stairs. We crossed a corridor with metal doors on either side. We stopped at one such door, and one of the soldiers opened the door. Behind it was a big, green, luminescent shard. They took the case it was in and brought it up to the lobby. They asked me where it was to be transferred, so I led them to my plane. They loaded it into the cargo pit, informed me that I was free to leave, and returned into the building.

I started up the plane and took off. "That was easy…"

x

"Thank chaos you're back, Tails! Eggman's been yelling at us the entire time!" I glanced over to see Eggman pouting in the corner of his chamber with a half-eaten can of green beans. "Well, until now…"

"Sorry, Knuckles. I've got the last piece, though!" I opened the cargo pit. Knuckles stepped into it and carried out the shard. He brought it to the rest of the Master Emerald and fit it into its place. With a flash of light, the Master Emerald was complete. Once again, I heard the faint vibrations emitted from the emerald. I called for Sonic. He quickly joined us in front of the Master Emerald.

"So… What do we do?"

"I dunno, Sonic! How about we do what we planned to do?"

"Gee, sorry Knux! So… What exactly was that plan?"

"To erase his recent memory!" Eggman suddenly sparked to life, grabbing our attention.

" _What? Erase_ my _memory_?" He was shaking. "That's impossible!"

Knuckles turned back to the Master Emerald. "Oh, Master Emerald! I request that you erase the last two weeks from Eggman's memory!"

 _I can not erase memory without the content of the recipient._

Knuckles turned to Eggman. "I'll need you to give the Master Emerald permission to wipe your memory."

Eggman crossed his arms and turned up his nose.

"Oh, yeah?" I walked towards the chamber. "You want me to turn on the vacuum?"

He flinched. "V-vacuum?"

I flew on top in the chamber to seal the air vent. I then activated the vacuum and slightly turned the air valve. Air was slowly sucked from the chamber. After a few moments, his skin began to turn red. Sonic was visibly uncomfortable. Eggman gave in.

" _STOP! STOP! I'LL DO IT!_ _ **STOP!**_ " I deactivated the vacuum and unsealed the vent. Air rushed back in and his skin returned to its normal color. "You have my permission…"

"We don't need it, the Master Emerald does,' Knuckles commented. Eggman sighed.

"Master Emerald, you have my permission." Just then, Eggman fell unconscious.

 **IMPORTANT QUESTION:** What do you want my next story to be? A prequel to Masterminds about the "monopoly incident" Sonic mentioned, as well as the rise of Prower Technologies? A two-tailed samurai in feudal Japan? A soldier in the crusades who excels in aerial melee? Something I haven't mentioned? Please do tell me what you want to see next!

Until next time!


	21. Special Thanks

Before we start, I have a quick note: the prologue of _The Prower Demonopoly_ , a prequel to _Masterminds_ , is now up.

Now, I would like to offer my gratitude to the people who have supported this story at some point during its seventy-four days of creation (date order):

 **Guest(s): offered encouragement on the story's second day, and later on chapters four and six.** I was so happy to receive my first review! If you're reading this, thank you!

 **Notyouraverageloser-chan: gave criticism and support early on and greatly helped clear up some major confusion; follower.** Seriously, I'm glad you pointed that out; I doubt this story would have done nearly as well if you had not! Thank you!

 **camrynboylan: expressed support right from the first chapter; favoriter and follower.** I hope the rest of the story turned out to be as enjoyable as the first chapter!

 **On A Happier Note: expressed enjoyment and support from the first seven chapters; favoriter and follower.** I'm glad you liked the style! I wasn't sure how well-written the humor was or how well the sudden details would be received, so thank you for clearing my doubts!

 **GlitchWarrior: in four consecutive reviews, offered support and pointed out a big error; follower.** Thanks for all the hype! Most enthusiastic award would go to you if there were one! Also, thanks for pointing that out!

 **imnotraven16: offered support nearing the final chapters; favoriter and follower.** Like I said, even a single word is appreciated!

Outspoken and silent readers alike are appreciated! Even though I can't give my personalized gratitude, you all deserve something (also date order):

 **DawnOfForelsket: favoriter and follower.**

 **doomxdesire94: follower.**

 **Oceanic Coral: favoriter and follower.**

 **TransformersandSonic: follower.**

 **Mygrane: favoriter and follower.**

 **DZ13: favoriter.**

 **Xalixcs: favoriter and follower.**

 **Amazing Spectacular Spider Man: favoriter.**

This goes out to every one of you, whether you're listed or not: thank you! You have all been the greatest creative support I've ever had, and I hope to see you all again for round two!


End file.
